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

by Robert Montgomery Bird

  CHAPTER XXV.

  In the prosecution of his purpose, our historian, the worthy DonCristobal Ixtlilxochitl, though ever adhering to his 'neglectedcavaliers' with a generous constancy, is sometimes seduced into thedescription of events and scenes of a more general character, not verynecessarily connected with his main object, and which those very authorswhom he censures, have made the themes of much prolix writing. Thedifficulties that beset an historian are ever very great; nor is theleast of them found in the necessity of determinating how much, or _howlittle_, he is called upon to record; for though it seems but reasonablehe should take it for granted that his readers are entirely unacquaintedwith the matters he is narrating, and therefore that he should say allthat can be said, this is a point in which all readers will not entirelyagree with him. Those who have acquired a smattering of his subject,will be offended, if he presume to reinstruct them. For our own part,not recognizing the right of the ignorant to be gratified at the expenseof the more learned, we have studied as much as is possible, so tocurtail the exuberances of our original as to present his readerschiefly with what they cannot know; for which reason, it will be found,we have eschewed many of the memorable incidents of this famouscampaign, in which none of the neglected conquerors bore a considerablepart; as well as all those minute descriptions which retard the progressof the history. We therefore despatch in a word the glories of themorning that dawned over Tlascala, the gathering together of theSpaniards, who, upon review, were found to muster full thirteen hundredmen, and their savage allies, two thousand in number, commanded, as hadbeen anticipated, by Talmeccahua of the tribe Tizatlan.

  Amid the roar of trumpets and drums, and the shouts of a vast people,the glittering and feathered army departed from Tlascala, and pursuingits way through those rich savannas covered with the smiling corn andthe juicy aloe, which had gained for this valley its name of the Land ofBread, proceeded onwards towards the holy city, Cholula.

  What rocky plains were crossed and what rough sierras surmounted, itneeds not to detail: before night-fall, the whole army moved over themeadows that environ Cholula; and there, where now the traveller seesnaught but a few wretched natives squatting among their earthen cabins,the adventurers beheld a city of great size, with more than four hundredlofty white towers shining over its spacious dwellings. The magnificentmountains that surrounded it--the sublime Popocatepetl, still breathingforth its lurid vapours,--the forbidding Iztaccihuatl, or the WhiteWoman, looking like the shattered ruins of some fallen planet, vainlyconcealing their deformities under a vestment of snow,--the sharp andserrated Malinche,--and last (and seen with not the less interest thatit intercepted the view towards home,)--the kingly Orizaba, lookingpeaceful and grand in the east,--made up such a wall of beauty andsplendour as does not often confine the valleys of men. But there is onemountain in that singular scene, which human beings will regard witheven more interest than those peaks which soar so many weary fathomsabove it: the stupendous Teocalli--the _Monte hecho a manos_, (for itwas piled up by the hands of human beings,)--reared its huge bulk overthe plain; and, while looking on the stately cypresses that shadowed itsgloomy summit, men dreamed, as they dream yet, of the nations who raisedso astonishing an evidence of their power, without leaving anyrevealment of their fate. Whence came they? whither went they? From theshadows--back to the shadows.--The farce of ambition, the tragedy ofwar, so many thousand times repeated in the three great theatres thatdivided the old world, were performed with the same ceremonies of guiltand misery, with the same glory and the same shame, in a fourth, ofwhich knowledge had not dreamed. The same superstitions which heaped upthe pyramids and the Parthenon, were at work on the Teocallis ofAmerica; and the same pride which built a Babylon to defy the assaultsof time, gave to his mouldering grasp the tombs and the palaces ofPalenque. The people of Tenochtitlan and Cholula worshipped theirancient gods among the ruined altars of an older superstition.

  Great crowds issued from this city--the Mecca of Anahuac--to witnessthe approach of the Spaniards; but although they bore the same features,and the same decorations, though perhaps of a better material, with theTlascalans, it was observed by Don Amador, that they displayed none ofthe joy and triumph, with which his countrymen had been ushered intoTlascala. In place of these, their countenances expressed a dullcuriosity; and though they kissed the earth and flung the incense, asusual, in their manner of salutation, they seemed impelled to theseceremonies more by fear than affection. He remarked also with somesurprise, that when they came to extend their compliments to theallies,--the Tlascalans, from their chief down to the meanest warrior,requited them only with frowns. All these peculiarities were explainedto him by De Morla:

  "In ancient days," said the cavalier, "the Cholulans were a nation ofrepublicans, like the Tlascalans, and united with them in a fraternalleague against their common enemies, the Mexicans. In course of time,however, the people of the holy city were gained over by the bribes orpromises of the foe; and entering into a secret treaty, they obeyed itsprovisions so well, as to throw off the mask on the occasion of a greatbattle, wherein they perfidiously turned against their friends, and,aided by the Mexicans, defeated them with great slaughter. From thatday, they have remained the true vassals of Mexico; and, from that day,the Tlascalans have not ceased to regard them with the most deadly andunrelenting hatred."

  "The hatred is just; and I marvel they do not fall upon these baseknaves forthwith!" said Amador.

  "It is the command of Don Hernan, that Tlascala shall now preserve herwrath for Tenochtitlan; and such is his influence, that, though hecannot allay the heart-burnings, yet can he, with a word, restrain thehands of his allies. Concerning the gloomy indifference of thesepeople," continued De Morla, "as now manifested, it needs only to informyou how we discovered, or, rather, (for I will not afflict you with thedetails,) how we punished a similar treachery, wherein they meditatedour own destruction, more than half a year ago, when we entered theirtown, on our march to Mexico. Having discovered their plot to destroyus, we met them with a perfidious craft which might have been renderedexcusable by their own, had we, like them, been demi-barbarians; butwhich, as we are really civilized and Christian men, I cannot helpesteeming both dishonest and atrocious. We assembled their nobles andpriests in the court of the building we occupied; and having closed thegates, and charged them once or twice with their guilt, we fell uponthem; and some of them having escaped and roused the citizens, wecarried the war into the streets, and up to the temples: and so well didwe prosper that day, and the day that followed, (for we fought themduring two entire days,) that, with the assistance of our Tlascalans, ofwhom we had an army with us, we slaughtered full six thousand of them,and that without losing the life of a single Spaniard."

  "Dios mio!" cried Don Amador, "we had not so many killed in all thesiege of Rhodes! Six thousand men! I am not certain that even treacherycould excuse the destruction of so many lives."

  "It was a bloody and most awful spectacle," said De Morla, with feeling."We drove the naked wretches (I say naked, senor, for we gave them notime to arm;) to the pyramids, especially to that which holds the altarof their chief god,--the god of the air; and here, senor, it wasmelancholy, to see the miserable desperation with which they died; for,having, at first, refused them quarter, they declined to receive it,when pity moved us afterwards to grant it. About the court of thispyramid there were many wooden buildings, as well as tabernacles of thelike material among the towers, on the top. These we fired; and thusattacked them with arms and flames. What ruin the fire failed to inflicton the temple, they accomplished with their own hands; for, senor,having a superstitious belief, that, the moment a sacrilegious handshould tear away the foundations of their great temple, floods shouldburst out from the earth to whelm the impious violator, they began toraze it with their own hands; willing, in their madness, to perish bythe wrath of their god, so that their enemies should perish with them. Icannot express to you the horrible howls, with which they beheld thefragments fall from the walls of the pyramid
, without calling up thewatery earthquake; then, indeed, with these howls, they ran to thesummit, and crazily pitched themselves into the burning towers, or flungthemselves from the dizzy top,--as if, in their despair, thinking thateven their gods had deserted them!"

  "It was an awful chastisement, and, I fear me, more awful than just,"said Amador. "After this, it is not wonderful the men of Cholula shouldnot receive us with joy."

  Many evidences of the horrors of that dreadful day were yet revealed, asDon Amador entered into the city. The marks of fire were left on varioushouses of stone, and, here and there, were vacuities, covered withblackened wrecks, where, doubtless, had stood more humble andcombustible fabrics.

  The countenance of Cortes was observed to be darkened by a frown, as herode through this well-remembered scene of his cruelty; but perhaps hethought less of remorse and penitence, than of the spirit of hatred anddesperation evinced by his victims,--as if, in truth, the lateoccurrences at Mexico had persuaded him, that a similar spirit waswaking and awaiting him there.--It was in his angry moment, and just ashe halted at the portals of a large court-yard, wherein stood the palacehe had chosen for his quarters, that two Indians, of an appearancesuperior to any Don Amador had yet seen, and followed by a train ofattendants bearing heavy burthens, suddenly passed from the crowd ofCholulans, and approached the general.

  "Senor," said De Morla, in a low voice, to his friend, "observe thesenew ambassadors;--they are of the noblest blood of the city; theelder,--he that hath the gold grains hanging to his nostrils, in tokenthat he belongs to the order of _Teuctli_, or Princes by Merit, is oneof the lords of the Four Quarters of Mexico--the quarter Tlatelolco,wherein is our garrison. His name, Itzquauhtzin, will be, to you,unpronounceable. The youth that bears himself so loftily, is no lessthan a nephew of the king himself; and the scarlet fillet around hishair, denotes that he has arrived at the dignity of what we should calla chief commander,--a military rank that not even the king can claim,without having performed great actions in the field. 'Tis a sore day forMontezuma, when he sends us such princely ambassadors.--I will pressforward, and do the office of interpreter; for destiny, love, and mymother wit, together, have given me more of the Mexican jargon, than anyof my companions."

  As the ambassadors approached, Don Amador had leisure to observe them.Both were of good stature and countenance; their loins were girt withtunics of white cotton cloth, studded and bordered with bunches offeathers, and hanging as low as the knee; and over the shoulders of bothwere hung large mantles of many brilliant colours, curiously interwoven,their ends so knotted together in front, as to fall down in gracefulfolds, half concealing the swarthy chest. Their sandals were securedwith scarlet thongs, crossed and gartered to the calf. Their ravenlocks, which were of great length, were knotted together, in a mostfantastic manner, with ribands, from the points of which, on the head ofthe elder, depended many little ornaments, that seemed jewels of goldand precious stones; while from the fillets, that braided the hair ofthe younger, besides an abundance of the same ornaments, there were manytufts of crimson cotton-down, swinging to and fro in the wind. Inaddition to these badges of military distinction, (for every tuft, thusworn, was the reward and evidence of some valiant exploit,) this youngprince--he seemed not above twenty-five years old--wore, as had beennoticed by De Morla, the red fillet of the House of Darts,--an order,not so much of nobility as of knighthood, entitling its possessor to thecommand of an army. His bearing was, indeed, lofty, but not disdainful;and though, when making his obeisance, he neither stooped so low, norkissed his hand with so much humility, as his companion, this seemed toproceed more from a consciousness of his own rank, than from anydisrespect to the Christian leader.

  "What will these dogs with me now?" cried Cortes, at whose feet, (for hehad dismounted,) the attendants had thrown their burthens, and wereproceeding to display their contents. "Doth Montezuma think to appeaseme for the blood of my brothers? and pay for Spanish lives with robes ofcotton and trinkets of gold?--What say the hounds?"

  "They say," responded De Morla to his angry general, "that the kingwelcomes you back again to his dominions, to give him reparation for theslaughter of his people."

  "Hah!" exclaimed the leader, fiercely. "Doth he beard me with complaint,when I look for penitence and supplication?"

  "In token of his love, and of his assured persuasion that you now returnto punish the murderers of his subjects, and then to withdraw yourfollowers from his city for ever," said De Morla, giving his attentionless to Cortes than to the lord of Tlatelolco, "he sends you thesegarments, to protect the bodies of your new friends from the snows ofIthualco, as well as----"

  "The slave!" cried Don Hernan, spurning the pack that lay at his foot,and scattering its gaudy textures over the earth: "If he give me no mailto protect my friends from the knives of his assassins, I will trampleeven upon his false heart, as I do upon his worthless tribute!"

  "Shall I translate your excellency's answer word for word?" said DeMorla, tranquilly. "If it be left to myself, I should much preferveiling it in such palatable language, as my limited knowledge willafford."

  But the scowling general had already turned away, as if to humble theambassadors with the strongest evidence of contempt, and to prove theextremity of his displeasure; and it needed no interpretation of wordsto convince the noble savages of the futileness of their ministry. Thelord of Tlatelolco bowed again to the earth, and again kissed his hand,as if in humble resignation, while the retreating figure of Don Hernanvanished under the low door of his dwelling; but the younger envoy,instead of imitating him, drew himself proudly up, and looked after thegeneral with a composure, that changed, as Don Amador thought, to asmile. But if such a mark of satisfaction--for it bore more thecharacter of elation than contempt,--did illuminate the bronzed visageof the prince, it remained not there for an instant. He cast a quiet andgrave eye upon the curious cavaliers who surrounded him, and thenbeckoning his attendants from their packs, he strode, with hiscompanion, composedly away.

  "In my mind," said the neophyte, following him with his eye, and rathersoliloquizing than addressing himself to any of the neighbouringcavaliers, "there was more of dignity and contempt in the smile of thatheathen prince, than in all the rage of my friend Don Hernan."

  "Truly, he is a very proper-looking and well-demeanoured knave," saidthe voice of Duero. "But the general has some deep policy at the bottomof all this anger."

  "By my faith, I think so, now for the first time!" exclaimed theneophyte; "for, although unable to see the drift of such a stratagem, Icannot believe that the senor Cortes would adopt a course, that seems tosavour so much of injustice, without a very discreet and politicobject."

  Here the discourse of the cavaliers was cut short by the suddenappearance of Fabueno the secretary.

  "What wilt thou, Lorenzo?" said his patron. "Has Lazaro again refused totilt with thee? I very much commend the zeal with which thou pursuestthine exercises; but thou shouldst remember, that Lazaro may, sometimes,be weary after a day's march."

  "Senor, 'tis not _that_," said the secretary. "But just now, as Baltasartold me, he saw the page Jacinto very rudely haled away by one ofCortes's grooms; and I thought your favour might be glad to know, forthe boy seemed frighted."

  "I will straightway see that no wrong be done him, even by the general,"said Amador, quickly, moving toward the door into which he had seenCortes enter. "I marvel very much that my good knight did not protecthim."

  "Senor," said Fabueno, "the knight is in greater disorder to-day thanyesterday. He took no note of anybody, when we came to this palace; butinstantly concealed himself in some distant chamber, where, a soldiertold me, he was scourging himself."

  "Thou shouldst not talk, with the soldiers, of Calavar," said Amador,with a sigh. "Get thee to Marco. If my kinsman need me, I will presentlybe with him."

  Thus saying, he discharged the secretary at the door; and those servantswho guarded it, not presuming to deny admittance to a man of such rank,he was immediately ushered into
the presence of Cortes.