Calavar; or, The Knight of The Conquest, A Romance of Mexico

by Robert Montgomery Bird

  CHAPTER XXI.

  A history of moral epidemics, drawn up by a philosophic pen, would addmuch to our knowledge of the mysteries of human character and humanpower, as well as of the probable contingencies of human destiny. In theprosecution of such a subject, besides tracing the development of thoselittle causes which, in former days, have spread their effects from manto man, until whole communities have laboured under a disease resultingin revolutions of the most stupendous nature, we should, doubtless,perceive many of those points of susceptibility and chains of impulsion,which render men the creatures of change; and which, being definitelyunderstood and wisely influenced, might at once put it in the power ofphilanthropists to govern the operations of reform in such manner as toavoid the evils of ill-considered innovation. Religion and liberty haveboth come to us as diseases; and the propagation of them throughout thelands of the heathen and the slave, is yet a measure of pain and peril,because we have not considered, or not yet learned, how to addressourselves to infirmity. What man will not say, that the enthusiasm whichcumbered the sands of Syria with the blood of the Crusaders, might not,if properly directed, have brought light and happiness to all Europe? orthat the fever, which has left the revolution of France a horror on thepage of history, might not, under the guidance of a less speculativephilosophy, have covered her valleys and filled her cities with securityand peace? Enthusiasm comes and goes; and because we know not enough ofits weak and governable qualities to direct it in the paths of justiceand virtue, it is allowed yet to fill the world with wrong and misery;and, misapplied to the purposes of glory, avarice, and fanaticism, theengine which God has given us to advance our civilization, is still thepreserver of barbarism.

  In the facility with which the aboriginal empires of America weresubverted by a handful of hotheaded Spaniards, mankind has been willingto find a proof of the savage imperfection of their institutions. In thecase of Mexico, at least, this testimony is deceptive. If we rememberthat the tribes of Anahuac, like the other races of America, werestruggling against obstacles which did not impede the advancement ofother nations, we shall be surprised at the point of civilization theyhad reached. Heaven had denied all the useful domestic animals toAmerica. The bison, which is perhaps not altogether untameable, roamedonly over the prairies and the forest lands of the north, among tribesthat were yet in the bottom class of humanity. The horse and the assadded not their strength to the labours of man, and the little llama,bearing the burden of its master over the icy Cordilleras of the south,was but a poor substitute for the camel of the desert, to which it hasbeen compared. Accident, or the knowledge of a thousand years, can aloneteach men the use of that metal which will bring him civilization, whengold will not buy it; but the discovery even of the properties of ironwill soon follow the invention of an alphabet, however rude orhieroglyphic. The Mexicans could already record and perpetuate theirdiscoveries. Without the aid of iron and domestic animals, they wereadvancing in refinement. Civilization had dawned, and was shedding alight, constantly augmenting, over their valleys; and, apart from thesedeficiencies, saving only, perhaps, additionally, in the article ofreligion, which was not yet purged of its abominations, (and which,_perhaps_, flung more annual victims on the altars than did, in afterdays, even the superstition of their conquerors, in Spain,) the Mexicanempire was not far behind some of the monarchies of Europe in thatmethod, purpose, and stability of institutions, both political anddomestic, which are esteemed the evidences of civilization.

  A moral epidemic nerved the arm of the invaders, another paralyzed thestrength of the invaded. Superstition covered the Spaniard with armourstronger than his iron mail, and left the Mexican naked and defenceless;and, in addition, the disease of disaffection, creeping from theextremities to the centre of the empire, added its weight to thelethargy of religious fear. When Hernan Cortes set out on his march, thesecond time, against Tenochtitlan, believing that God had chosen him tobe a scourge to the misbeliever, he knew well that thousands and tens ofthousands of malecontents were burning to join his standard. Mexico wasthe Rome of the New World,--a compound of hostile elements, an union oftribes and states subdued and conjoined by the ambition of a singlecity, but not yet so closely cemented as to defy the shocks of a Gothicirruption. What might have been the condition of the empire ofMontezuma, if the divine ray which conducted the Genoese pilot over theAtlantic, had been reserved for an adventurer of the present day, it isimpossible to determine; but, it is quite clear, its condition was suchat the time of the invasion, that, had not the indecision of itsmonarch, founded on such a conjuncture of coincidences as might haveconfounded a more enlightened prince, entirely repressed its powers ofresistance, no armies, raised by the Spanish colonists, or even by theirEuropean master, could have penetrated beyond the shores; and thedestiny of Cortes would have been written in letters as few and asobscure as those which have recorded the fate of Valdivia among the lessrefined, but better united Araucanians of Chili.

  The heart of the leader was bold, the spirits of his confederates fullof resolution and hope; and notwithstanding the evil intelligence thattheir victims were wakening to a knowledge of their strength, andconfirming their audacity in the blood they had already shed, the unitedfollowers of Narvaez and Hernan Cortes began their march over themountains with alacrity and joy.

  The novelties and wonders that were each day disclosed, were remarked byno one with more satisfaction than by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoicedwhen, ascending among the mountains, the fens and sand-hills of thecoast were exchanged for picturesque lakes and romantic crags; when theoak woods and pine forests began to stretch their verdant carpets overthe hill-sides; when, standing among the colossal ruins of some shiveredpeak, he cast his eye over glen and valley, glittering with verdure andfertility, far away to the majestic ridges over whose hazy sides tumbledthe foamy fall, or crept the lazy cloud, while among their gorgesglistened the distant cones of snow. Now he admired the ferns, liftingtheir arborescent heads, like palms, among other strange trees; now, ashe exchanged the luxuriant slopes for those volcanic deserts which strewthe base of Perote with lava and cinders, he beheld the broad nopal, andthe gigantic maguey, rearing their massive leaves over the fissures,while a scorched forest withered and rotted above. Sometimes, whilepursuing his weary way over these mountain _paramos_, or deserts, headvanced bewildered, as what seemed a fair and spacious lake withdrewits vapoury waters from before him, and revealed a parched and barrenexpanse of sand. The journey was an alternation of mountain and valley,forest and plain, with sometimes a pleasant little Indian village, and,twice or thrice, a town of no mean magnitude and splendour, rising inpleasant nooks among the horrors of the waste.

  Over this rugged region it was not possible to drag the ordnance andheavy stores, with which Cortes was now abundantly provided, withoutmuch labour and delay; and it was not until about the time of the summersolstice, more than a month after the fall of Zempoala, that, at theclose of a pleasant day, the new invaders laid their eyes, for the firsttime, on Tlascala,--the capital of that warlike republic, which, for thesingular object, as certain historians have conjectured, of preservingan enemy to exercise their armies, as well as to furnish victims fortheir gods, the Mexican monarchs permitted to subsist in the heart oftheir empire.

  The slowness of their march was productive of many advantages to thoseparticular individuals, whose adventures it is the object of thishistory to record. It gave to Don Amador an opportunity to make theacquaintance of many of his new companions, among whom were some notunworthy his friendship. The services of the senor Duero were rememberednot without gratitude; and although he reflected, at times, with someunreasonable disgust, that these denoted as much treachery to a friendas humanity to a stranger, the attentions of that cavalier were sosedulously continued, that he could not well refuse him his regard. Thetaciturn but ever-resolute Sandoval,--the lofty and savage, but not theless courteous De Leon,--the fiery De Olid,--the daring De Ordaz, who,thirsting to accomplish exploits not dreamed of by his confederates, hadclambe
red among the snowy pinnacles and burning caverns of the greatVolcan, and had thereby won the right, confirmed to him afterwards bythe Spanish king, to carry a fire-mountain for his arms;--these, as wellas divers others of no mean renown, so recommended themselves to theesteem of the neophyte, that he dismissed much of his preconceivedcontempt, and began to consider himself among honourable and estimablecavaliers. But to none of them did his spirit turn with so muchconfidence and affection as to Don Francisco de Morla, a young hidalgoof his own native town, greatly beloved throughout the army, as a man ofhonour and tried courage. In this cavalier a modest carriage was unitedto great gayety of disposition, and a warm heart, governed by gentlenessof temper. A milder enthusiasm than that which beset his comrades,softened him to the barbarians, in whose land he was more desirous toconsider himself a guest than an enemy; and without lacking anysincerity of devotion to his own faith, he seemed to regard theferocious superstitions of the natives with less abhorrence than pity.He had followed at the side of Cortes from Tobasco to Zempoala; and,being as observant as brave, was not only able to acquaint Don Amadorwith the marvellous events of the invasion,--its perils, sufferings, andtriumphs,--but could also instruct him in many of the remarkablecharacteristics of the land and the people.

  The effects of this delay on the knight of Rhodes were equallybeneficial, though differently wrought. The paroxysms of lethargy, aswell as the fits of distraction, which, as Don Amador learned from thefaithful Marco, had been many and ungovernable, whenever the excitementof battle was over, began to vanish under the interest of the society,and the influence of the careful government of the neophyte; who, fromlong acquaintance with his kinsman's eccentricities, had acquired apower to soothe them. But if such was the influence of Don Amador, thepower of the little Moorish page over his moody moments was still moreremarkable. The sorrows of Jacinto vanished with the capriciousness ofchildhood; and perceiving that, in the long and toilsome march, he wasnever so far separated from his father that he might not look to see himat night-fall, he quickly recovered his spirits. Then, as if to expresshis gratitude to the good knight who protected him, he studied, withwonderful diligence and address, how best to please and divert him. Witha thousand pretty stories, chosen with such discretion and prattled withsuch eloquence, as often surprised the neophyte;--with countless songs,which no one could sing with more sweetness, or accompany with moreskill on the lute,--he would seduce the knight from his gloom, and cheathim out of his melancholy. No dagger shone so brightly as that polishedby the hand of Jacinto; no plume of feathers waved with more grace thanthat set by the young Moor on the casque of Don Gabriel. If atiger-flower glittered on the path, if a chirimoya put forth its fruitby the wayside, before the knight could turn his eyes upon them, theywere in his hand; and Jacinto smiled with delight, as he received thethanks of his patron. The benevolence of Don Gabriel soon changed toaffection; he almost smiled--not so much with joy as with love--when,sometimes, the boy sat at his feet at evening, and sang with fervour ahymn to the Virgin; he was troubled if, by chance, Jacinto strayed fromhis sight; and Don Amador sometimes found himself beset by a sort ofjealousy, when he perceived, or thought he perceived, this striplingrobbing him of the heart of his kinsman. But to do Don Amador justice,it needed not many suggestions of his honour or pride to rid him of suchenvious emotions. The zeal of the boy in the service of Calavar, as heconfessed, deserved much of his own gratitude; to which should be addedmany acknowledgements of the satisfaction with which he himself listenedto his instrument and voice. If the boy sang with alacrity at the wishof Calavar, he was not less ready to obey the command of the neophyte.Nevertheless, Don Amador fancied this obedience was rendered less fromlove than duty: he thought the stripling looked on him with fear,sometimes with dislike; and he was persuaded that (though on occasionsof difficulty,--when a thunderstorm met them on a hill, or a torrentroared over the path,--Jacinto chose rather to fly to him forprotection, than to remain by the side of the knight,) he was oftenerdisposed to shrink from his kindness. This troubled Don Amador, for heloved the boy well; and often he said to himself, "I have saved thisurchin from a beating, and, as I may add, from the imminent danger ofbeing speared like a frog;--I have given him gentle words, as alsopraises for his singing, which is indeed very excellent; I have helpedhim over divers rivers, and a thousand times offered him a seat onFogoso's crupper, which it was his own fault, or his own cowardice, hedid not accept; in short, I have helped him out of countless troubles,and was, besides, the first to befriend him in these lands--withoutreckoning what protection I have given to his father, Sidi Abdalla;--andyet the lad loves me not. It is a pity he was not born of Christianparents;--ingratitude runs in Moorish blood!"

  So thought Don Amador, a thousand times; but a thousand times, as hisdispleasure waxed hot at the unthankfulness of the lad, it wasdissipated by some little circumstance or another. Once, when he was ina talkative mood, and desirous to have Jacinto at his side, he was sodispleased at his evident wish to escape, as to vent his displeasure ina reprimand. The boy ran to his side, kissed his hand, and raised hiseyes, suffused with tears, to the countenance of his preserver.--Thecavalier never rebuked him again. On two or three occasions, also,greatly to his surprise, he caught the stripling weeping; which was themore wonderful, since he seemed not only reconciled, but greatly pleasedwith his state of easy servitude. On all such occasions, he excusedhimself with such persuasive simplicity, as not only to remove allsuspicions of discontent, but greatly to increase the affection of theneophyte. He was a favourite as well with the men-at-arms, as with theirmasters; and Don Amador often reflected with wonder, how quickly he hadwound himself into the hearts of all. "If I could persuade myself into abelief of magic," he pondered, "I should think him a truer conjurer thanBotello. What Botello prophesied concerning Narvaez, is very remarkable;yet, when a man is prognosticating all his life, it is hard if he do notsometimes blunder upon the truth. Truly he blundered wrong aboutLorenzo's arm, which is not yet well healed; and I vow to St. John, Ithought, one time, it would have gangrened. But as to Jacinto, he hasenchanted my knight's heart. I have ever thought _he_ abhorred theMoors, and surely he slew great numbers in the war of the Alpujarras. Asfor myself, I was born with a natural detestation of the Moorish race;and I never before knew but one that I did not hate at first sight."Here he sighed dolefully. "But this boy I love; yet loves he not me.--Ihave heard of philters and love-medicines; and surely, as many drugsattack the stomach, brain, and other parts, there is no reason someshould not be found to affect the heart!"

  But while the neophyte thus marvelled and reasoned, Jacinto stole stilldeeper into his favour; and at the end of a day's march, Don Amador wasoftener found sitting at the door of some Indian cabin, or under theshade of its flower-garden, listening with Calavar to the lays of theyoung musician, than sharing the martial sports of his companions, oreven superintending the warlike exercises of his ward, Fabueno.