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

by Robert Montgomery Bird

  CHAPTER XLIV.

  The sufferings of the Spaniards in the streets, when returning from thepyramid, had admonished the general of the necessity of devising someplan of protection against those citizens who fought from thehouse-tops, whenever constrained to attempt a second sortie.Accordingly, the artisans, in obedience to his commands, had spent thepreceding night in the construction of certain wooden turrets,sufficiently lofty to overlook the commoner houses, and strong enough tobid defiance to the darts of the enemy. They were framed of timbers andplanks, torn from different parts of the palace. Each was two stories inheight, and, in addition, was furnished with a guard, or battlement overthe roof, breast-high, behind which, some half a score musketeers mightensconce themselves to advantage, while nearly as many crossbowmen couldbe concealed in either chamber, discharging their weapons from narrowloop-holes. A little falconet was also placed in the upper chamber. Theywere mounted on gun-carriages, and meant to be drawn by the Indianallies. They were called at first _mantas_, or blankets; but afterwardswere nicknamed _burros_,--either because they were such sillyprotections as might have been devised by the most stupid of animals,which is one signification of the word, or, because the cannon-wheels,revolving under the mass, reminded the soldiers of the great wheel of amill, which is another meaning. One of these machines had beencompleted, and was now ordered to be taken out,--not from anyapprehension that it might be needed, but because it appeared to thesagacious general, that, if fate should imprison him longer inTenochtitlan, the present was the best opportunity to instruct hissoldiers in the management of it.

  It was already lumbering slowly and clumsily over the broken square,drawn by some two hundred Tlascalans, and well manned with soldiers,when Don Amador passed from the gates. As the cavaliers rode by, itslittle garrison, vastly delighted with their safe and lazy quarters,greeted them with a merry cheer, the gayest and most sonorous strain ofwhich was sounded by those who defended the roof. As Don Amador lookedcuriously up, he was hailed by a voice not yet forgotten, and beheld,perched among others, whom he seemed to command, on the very top of themanta, the master of the caravel.

  "I give you a good day, noble Don Amador!" said this commander, with agrin. "I am not now aboard of such a bark as the little Sangre deCristo; but, for navigating through a beleagured city, especially amongsuch cut-throats as we have here in Tenochtitlan, perhaps a better shipcould not be invented."

  "Thou art then resolved," said the cavalier, with a smile, "that thispeople is not far behind the race of Florida?"

  "Ay! I cannot but believe it; and I ask their pardon, for having sogreatly belied them," said the captain; "for more ferocious devils thanthese, never saw I;--they dwell not among the lagoons of the north."

  "And dost thou remember thy wager?" said Don Amador, losing the littlegayety that was on his visage, at the recollection.

  "Concerning my soul, (which heaven have in keeping!) and the cottonneck-piece?" cried the sailor, with a grim look.--"Ay, by my faith, Ido. If we fly this day, the first part of the venture is accomplished;for true valour must acknowledge a defeat, as well as boast a victory.And if we do not, I am even ready to wager over again for the second,touching heaven. Three more such days as yesterday, and God bless usall! But it is a good death to die, fighting the heathen! At the worst,I have cheated the devil;--for the padre Olmedo absolved me thismorning."

  Don Amador rode forward, relapsing into gloom.

  The streets were, for a time, deserted and silent, as if the inhabitantshad fled from the island; and when, now and then, the cavaliers halted,to deliberate on their course, to list for the cries of human voices, orto watch the progress of the tottering manta, already far behind, thesound of shrubs rustling together on the terraces, came to their earswith the melancholy cadences of a desert. Sometimes, indeed, in thesepauses, they heard, from the recesses of a dwelling, which otherwiseseemed forsaken, faint groans, as of a wounded foeman dying withoutsuccour; and, occasionally, to these were added the low sobs of women,lamenting a sire or brother. But they had approached the limits of theisland, and almost within view of the causeway, without yet beholding anenemy, when a warning gesture from the hands of Don Hernan, at thefront, brought them to a halt; and, as they stood in silence, theyheard, coming faintly on the breeze, and, as it seemed, from a streetwhich crossed their path, a little in advance, such sounds of flutes andtabours as had, the day before, conducted the mysterious priestess tothe pyramid.

  Don Amador's heart beat with a strange agitation as he listened; and heburned again to look on the countenance of this divine representative ofa pagan divinity. Whether it was the dejection of his spirits which gaveits own character to the music; or whether indeed this was now breathedfrom the lips of mourners, he thought not to inquire; but others werestruck with the wild sadness of the strain, and gazed inquisitivelyupon one another, as if to gather its meaning. While they thus exchangedlooks, and awaited the issue of the event, the sounds approached,growing louder, but losing none of their melancholy; and a train ofpriests, in long black robes, and with downcast eyes, followed by boyswith smoking censers, at last stole on their view, slowly crossing thestreet on which they had halted. At this moment, and just as theprophetess (for it was she who stood, as before, under the featheredcanopy, carried by the devotees,) came into sight, the roar of a cannon,bellowing afar from the palace, startled the cavaliers from theirtranquillity; and, in the assurance of new conflicts, destroyed, atonce, their hope of peaceful escape. This explosion, as was afterwardsdiscovered, was rather the cause than the consequence of hostilities;for the Mexicans, after the sortie of Cortes, approaching the citadel ingreat numbers, to beseech the body of their king, not doubting that hewas slain, the Spaniards had mistaken their grief for renewing rage, andimmediately fired upon them.

  A furious scowl darkened the visage of Don Hernan, as this distantdischarge swept away his hopes; and rising on his stirrups, he cried tohis companions,

  "Let us seize the person of this accursed priestess,--demon, orwoman,--who profanes the holiness of Our Lady, and incenses the heartsof the rabble! On, and be quick; for 'tis an easy prize, and may replacethe emperor!"

  Until this moment, the train, casting their eyes neither to the rightnor left, and raising them not even at the roar of the cannon, had beenignorant of the presence of the Spaniards. But when the harsh voice ofthe Christian drowned the breathings of the flutes, they paused, lookingtowards him in affright; and again, for an instant, the lustrous eyes ofthe prophetess fell upon the visage of Don Amador. His heart heaved witha sickening sensation; and the impulse which had before driven to flighthis better judgment, assailed him anew with violence. His voice shoutedwith the rest, but it uttered the name of Leila; and, as if, indeed, hebeheld the lost maid of Almeria, or her phantom, he spurred towards theprophetess full as madly as when she vanished, before, under the Wall ofSerpents. But the train, scattering at once, fled in horror from theSpaniards, escaping into the neighbouring houses. The object of theoutrage, nevertheless, seemed in the power of the cavaliers; for thoughthe bearers deserted her not they fled but slowly under their burden.

  But there were protectors nigh, of whom the Spaniards had not dreamed;and even Cortes himself reined back his horse with dismay, when,suddenly, there sprang from the intersecting street a multitude of armednobles, interposing their bodies between him and his victim; and hiseye, running an instant down the street, beheld them followed by amyriad of pagans without end.

  "Back to the manta!" cried the general, hastily; "for these dogs arearmed, and the men of the turret have no aid!--Hark! hear ye not thehowls? Rein round, and back! They are slaying my Tlascalans!"

  Before the neophyte could recover from his confusion of mind, he foundhimself turned round and borne along with the mass of gallopinghorsemen. The Mexicans uttered a cry, as with one impulse, and followedfuriously after.

  In the crowd of thought that distracted him, Don Amador remembered thewords of Botello, and believed that he was, indeed, labouring under someenchantmen
t, which made him a misfortune to his friends. But not longhad he leisure for such meditations. The loud yells of combatants, andthe sounds of arquebuses, in front, increased at each step; and, quicklyturning an angle in the street, he found himself in the midst ofconflict.

  An immense herd of men had surrounded the manta, and were engaged handto hand with the Tlascalans who drew it; while the Spaniards on its topdefended themselves, at a disadvantage, from many Mexicans, stationed onthe terrace of a lofty house, the dwelling of some superb Tlatoani. Sonear indeed was the turret to the walls of this edifice, and so highabove it was the latter, that the huge stones tumbled from thebattlements, fell with great certainty on its roof, crushing the men ofthe caravel, and beating down both the wooden parapet and the platform.At the same time, certain savages, with long poles, struck at thedefenders, and thrusting the points of their weapons into its breaches,endeavoured to topple it to the ground. As it rocked thus to and fro,the violent motion entirely prevented the little garrison from makinguse of their arms; and with wild cries to their friends, to seize theropes, dropped by the Tlascalans, and drag the manta from the palace,they were seen holding by its sides as well as they could, receiving,without returning, the blows of their adversaries. The necessity ofobeying their prayer was seen more plainly than the means; for the crowdof mingled Tlascalans and Mexicans that surrounded the crazy machine,was impenetrable; and had it been so, the appearance of the manta,threatening each moment to fall, would have deterred the boldest fromapproaching its dangerous vicinity.

  As it was, the cavaliers gave what aid they could. They thrust theirspears into the mass of Indians, shouting to the Tlascalans to disengagethemselves from the enemy. But these shouts, if the allies did notindeed receive them rather as encouragement to fight the more fiercely,dissolved not the bloody melee into its components of friend and foe;and many a Tlascalan died, that day, pierced through the heart byspears, which their bearers thought were thrust through the breasts ofMexicans.

  In the meanwhile, the heavy burro was shaken still more violently; andDon Amador, looking up, beheld the master of the caravel alone on thetop, (for his sailors were already slain) grasping despairingly at afragment of the parapet; while stones and darts were showered upon himfrom the adjoining terrace, and a heavy pole, aimed by a lustybarbarian, struck him with merciless severity. His countenance was pale,his eye haggard, and his honourable scars now livid, and almost black,were relieved, like fresh wounds, on his ghastly brow. His helmet hadfallen to the ground; and the sight of his gray hairs shaking over hisscarred front, as he was tossed up and down, like one bound hand andfoot on the back of a wild animal, inflamed the neophyte with both rageand pity.

  "Loose thy hold! drop upon the Indians, and take thy chance among them!"he cried at the top of his voice. "What ho! friend Gomez! wilt thou liethere, and perish?"

  It seemed as if the voice of the cavalier had not passed unheard; forthe wretched man was seen to raise himself on his knees, and look downto the fighting men below, as if meditating a leap; when suddenly agreat stone fell on the platform with a crashing noise, and, at the samemoment, the manta, lurching like an ill-ballasted ship before ahurricane, staggered over its balance, and fell with a tremendous shockto the ground. The neophyte thought not of the miserable combatants,crushed in its fall. He beheld the voyager, at the instant of itsdestruction, hurled from the ruin, as if from some mighty balista ofancient days, clear over the heads of the Indians, and dashed, a mangledand hideous corse, almost at his feet.

  "God pity thee!" he cried, with a shudder; "thy words are made good, thywager is won,--and the saints that died for the faith, take thee toparadise!"

  "Do ye hear! Ho! to your lances, and back upon the wolves that arebehind us!" cried the trumpet-voice of Don Hernan. The neophyte turned,and clapping spurs to Fogoso, charged, with the cavaliers, upon thosesquadrons which had pursued them;--but, like his companions, he checkedhis horse with surprise, and no little consternation, when he beheld inwhat manner the infidels were prepared to receive them. The street waspacked with their bodies, as far as the eye could see; and darts andswords of obsidian were seen flashing above the heads of the mostdistant multitude; but he perceived that those combatants who stood infront, stretching from wall to wall, were armed with long spears,mostly, indeed, with wooden points, sharpened, and fire-hardened, thoughsome few were seen with copper blades, full a yard in length, which theyhandled with singular and menacing address. Thus, no sooner did thecavaliers approach them, than those of the first rank, dropping, liketrained soldiers, to their knees, planted the buts of their weapons onthe ground, while those held by others behind, were thrust over theshoulders of the kneelers, and presented, together, such a wall ofbristling spines, as caused the bravest to hesitate.

  "Have we Ottomies of the hills here!" cried Don Hernan, aghast. "Or arethese weapons, and this mode of using them, the teaching of the traitorMoor?"

  A loud shout, mingled with laughs of fierce derision, testified thetriumph of the barbarians; and Cortes, stung with fury, thoughhesitating to attack, called for his musketeers, to break the line ofopponents.

  "Our musketeers are in heaven! carried up in the fiend of a burro!"cried Alvarado, waving his sword, and eyeing the vaunting herd. "Beforethe days of saltpetre, true men were wont to shoot their foes withoutit.--All that is to be done, is to conceive we are hunting foxes, andleaping over a farmer's wall. Soho! Saladin, mouse! And all that arebrave gentlemen, follow me! Hah!"

  As he concluded, the madcap soldier spurred his steed Saladin, and,uttering a war-cry, dashed fearlessly on the spearmen. Before he had yetparted from his companions, Don Amador de Leste, fired, in spite of hismelancholy, by the boldness of the exploit, and unwilling to be outdoneby a cavalier of the islands, brushed up to his side, and spurringFogoso at the same moment, the two hidalgos straightway vaulted amongthe barbarians.

  The show of resolution maintained by the exulting spearmen, while theChristians stood yet at a distance, vanished when they beheld thoseanimals, which they always regarded with a superstitious awe, rushingupon them with eyes of fury, and feet of thunder. To this faltering,perhaps, it was owing, that the two Dons were not instantly slain; for,though the heavy armour that guarded the chests and loins of the steeds,could repel the thrust of a wooden spear as well as the corslets oftheir riders, no such protection sheathed their bellies; and had theybeen there pierced, their masters must instantly have perished. As itwas, however, the front rank recoiled, and when it closed again, thecavaliers were seen wielding their swords, (for in such a melee theirspears were useless,) and striking valiantly about them, but entirelysurrounded.

  "Shall we be thus shamed, my masters?" cried Don Hernan,sharply. "Methinks there are two _more_ such cavaliers in thiscompany?--Santiago, and at them!"

  Thus saying, and, with a word, inflaming their pride, he leaped againstthe foe, followed by all the horsemen.

  The two leaders in this desperate assault had vanished,--swallowed up,as it were, in the vortex of contention; and it was not until hisfriends heard the voice of Alvarado exclaiming, wildly, as if inextremity, "Help me, De Leste, true friend! for I am unhorsed! Help me,or the hell-hounds will have me to the temple!"--that they wereconvinced the young men were living.

  "Be of good heart!" cried Don Amador, (for he was at his side,) drawinghis sabre, with a dexterous sleight, over the sinewy arms that clutchedhis companion, and releasing, without doing him harm. "If thou artdisarmed, draw my dagger from the sheath and use it; and fear not that Iwill leave thee, till rescued by others."

  "Who gets my sword, takes the arm along with it!" cried Alvarado,grasping again his chained weapon, and dealing fierce blows, as hespoke. "I will remember the act--Ho! false friends! forsworn soldiers!condemned Christians! why leave ye us unsupported?"

  "Courage, and strike well! we are near," answered Don Hernan. "Press on,friends; trample the curs to death! Join we our true cavaliers; and thensweep back for victory!"

  "Where goest thou, now, mad Amador?" they heard
the voice of Alvaradoexclaiming; "Return: thy horse is shoed with piraguas; but mine sticksfast in this bog of flesh. Return; for, by heaven, I can follow thee nofurther!"

  "Come on, as thou art a true man; for I am sore beset, and wounded!"These words, from the lips of the neophyte, came yet through the din ofyells; but it seemed to those who listened, that there was feebleness inthe voice that uttered them.

  "Onward!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder, and urging his dunsteed furiously over the trampled barbarians; "the young man shall notperish!"

  A wolf-hound, weary and spent with the chase, suddenly surrounded by awhole pack of the destroyers he has been tracking, and falling under thefangs of his quarry, may figure the condition of Don Amador de Leste,surrounded and seized upon by the enemy. Nothing but the vigour ofpowerful and fiery-spirited steeds could have carried the two cavaliersso far into a crowd of warriors almost compacted. While the neophytegave assistance to his friend, a dozen blows of the maquahuitl wererained upon his body; and so closely was he invested immediately after,(when, as Alvarado reined in his steed to await the rest, the twocavaliers were separated,) that he thought no longer of warding offblows; but giving himself up to smiting, he trusted to the strength ofhis mail for protection. But the heavy bludgeons bruised where theycould not wound; and his armour being, at last, broken by the fury ofthe blows, the sharp glass penetrated to his flesh, and he began tobleed. He cast his eye over his shoulder, for his strength was failing;but the plume of Don Pedro waved at a distance behind, and the shouts ofCortes seemed to come from afar. He turned his horse's head, to retreat;but half a dozen savages, emboldened by this symptom of defeat, clutchedupon the bridle; and the hand he raised to smite at them, was seized byas many others. It was at this moment that he called out to hiscompanion, in the words we have recorded; but the answer, if answer weremade, was drowned in the savage yells of exultation, with which his foesbeheld him in their power. He collected all his energies, struggledviolently, and striking the rowels deep, and animating Fogoso with hisvoice, hoped, by one bound, to spring clear of his capturers. Thegallant steed vaulted on high, but fell again to the earth, under theweight of the many that clung to him: and a dozen new hands were addedto those that already throttled the rider.

  "Rescue me, if ye be men!" he cried, with a voice that prevailed overthe uproar.--The cry was echoed by twenty Christian voices hard by, anda gleam of hope entered into his heart. Another furious struggle,another plunge of Fogoso, and he thought that the hands of his enemieswere at last unclenching. A bright weapon flashed before his eyes--Itwas steel, and therefore the falchion of a friend!--It fell upon hishelmet with irresistible weight; his brain spun, his eyes darkened, andhe fell, or rather was dragged, like a dead man, from his horse. But erehis eyes had yet closed, their last glance was fixed on the visage ofthe striker; and the sting of benefits forgotten was added to thebitterness of death, when, in this, he perceived the features ofAbdalla, the Moor.

  In an instant more, the barbarians parted in terror before the greatTeuctli.

  "Where art thou, De Leste?" he cried. "We are here, to rescue thee!"

  As he spoke, there sprang, with a fierce bound, from among the Mexicans,the well-known bay, Fogoso, his foamy sides streaked with gore, thestirrups rattling against his armed flanks, the reins flying in theair,--but no rider on the saddle.

  "By heaven, false friends! craven gentlemen! you have lost the bravestof your supporters!" cried Don Hernan. "On! for he may yet live: on! forwe will avenge him!"

  The band, resolute now in their wrath, plunged fiercely through the mob.They struck down many enemies,--they trampled upon many corses; but,among them, they found not the body of De Leste.