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

by Robert Montgomery Bird

  CHAPTER LIX.

  While these scenes of blood were passing in the centre of the army, anda hideous mystery concealed the fate of the rear, the condition of theadvanced guard, though not altogether hopeless, was scarce lessterrific. When the forces of Sandoval, comprising many of the followers,both common soldiers and captains, of Narvaez, were made acquainted withthe fate of the bridge, and beheld the vast number of foes that impelledtheir canoes towards the further bank of the second ditch, as if tosecure the passage, they waited not for directions to cross over, byswimming. They imitated the example of their commander, Sandoval, who,leaping from his horse, and leading him into the water, passed over bythe beam, while still holding and guiding the swimming animal. This modeof proceeding being necessarily very slow, and the barbarians rushing,in the meanwhile, against them with unspeakable fury, the impatience ofthe cavaliers became so great, that many of them spurred their steedsdown the sides of the dike, and thus, swimming them along by the beam,passed to the other side. Divers of the footmen, seduced by the example,leaped, in like manner, into the lake; and the Tlascalans, at all timesless formidable opponents than their armed allies, being, at the samemoment, violently assaulted, sprang also into the water, so that itbecame alive with the bodies of man and horse,--as if a herd of caymans,such as haunt the lower rivers of that climate, were disporting andbattling in the tide. While thus embarrassed and entangled together inthe water, the swimmers were set upon by the Mexicans, who, pushingtheir canoes among them, and handling their heavy paddles, as well aswar-clubs, despatched them, almost without labour, and with roars ofexultation.

  It was at this instant of confusion, and while those Tlascalans whostill remained on the dike, contended but feebly with the augmentingassailants, that Don Hernan, followed closely by De Morla, and others,dashed over friend and foe, and reached the ditch. The scene of horrorthere disclosed, the miserable shrieks of Christian comrades, perishingin the gap and the neighbouring parts of the lake, the increasing yellsof infidels behind, touched the stout heart of Cortes with fear. Hedescended from his steed, sprang upon the beam, and crossed, crying out,at the same time, to those who followed,--

  "Hold, cavaliers! Wait ye here for the artillery: leave not this gap tothe murderers. Fight ye here well, and ye shall have help from the van."

  So saying, he sprang again upon his horse. De Morla was at his heels,bearing Minnapotzin in his arms, but on foot: the chestnut gelding wasleft drowning in the sluice, entangled and sinking under the weight of adozen men, who had seized upon him, in their terror.

  "God forgive thee, cavalier!" cried Cortes, as he caught the eye ofFrancisco; "for, for this barbarian puppet, thou playest the coward, andleavest thy friend to perish, without the aid of a blow!"

  De Morla answered not, but, with a ghastly smile, uncovered and pointedat the features of the unconscious princess.

  "If she be dead," cried the general, "give her body to the waters of hernative lake; if she live, commit her to the care of the Tlascalans; thencall on thy saints and show that thou art not a craven!"

  Then, without waiting for an answer, Don Hernan spurred onwards,striking down, almost at every step,--for the whole causeway wasbeset,--some luckless savage; and, now and then, in his desperation,smiting at the hands of certain of his own countrymen, who strove toarrest the galloping steed, and spring behind him.

  He reached the third and last ditch; it was bridge-less, like theothers, and, like the others, a theatre of disorder and massacre. Thepillar of fire, here, revealed its figure but luridly and faintly,through the thick mists and the cannon-smoke, sluggishly driving overthe lake; but he thought he could trace, in the distant gloom, in front,the outline of those rugged hills, which lie along the western bordersof the lake. He turned his face backwards to the city; a tempest ofyells--the pagan shouts of victory, and the last cries of Spaniards toGod,--came mingling on a gust, that waved the distant flame to and fro,like a sword of fire in the hands of some colossal fiend. A bolt of icesmote through his bosom; and when he plunged into the sluice, and,rising on the opposite bank, drove the sharp spurs into the flanks ofhis charger, no man, of all the army, fled with more craven horror thanhimself.

  An hour afterwards, the moon, diminished to the thinnest crescent, creptwith a sickly and cadaverous visage, to the summit of the eastern hills,and peeped down into the valley, preceding the dawn that was soon tolook upon its scenes of death.

  At this moment of moonrise, those few Christians who had escaped fromthe battle, were grouped at the end of the dike, deliberating, inunspeakable agitation, upon the course they were to pursue. Many advisedthat they should instantly resume their flight, and trust to their speedto put them, before morning, beyond the reach of their mercilessenemies; some insisted upon remaining, to give help to such wretches as,ever and anon, made their way from the causeway, and, with tears of joyand loud thanks-givings, threw themselves among their friends; a few,more honourable, or more insane, among whom were Sandoval and DonChristobal de Olid, (a very valiant cavalier, to whom other historieshave been juster than this,) demanded, with stern reproaches, that theirleader should conduct them again to the combat, which was still ragingon the lake, and rescue their countrymen out of that fiery furnace, or,at once, honourably and justly, perish with them.

  "Is there one here, who, if I refuse this most mad counsel, will say Ido it from fear?" demanded the general, with a voice broken by agony anddespair. "What I do, I do for the good of heaven, the king, andyourselves. If I suffer you to return, then will ye perish, Spain losean appanage worthy the first-born of an emperor, and, in that accursedcity, God be daily grieved by the sight of idolatry and sacrifice. Byremaining where we are, we shall save many lives; and this land of milkand honey, of corn and of gold, though now torn from us for our sins,will be yet the guerdon of our resolution. I aver and protest, that ifwe return to the hell that is on the lake, we shall be lost, to a man.Is there one, then, who says I remain here from fear?"

  Notwithstanding the deep grief and agitation which gave their tone tothe words of the general, there was mingled withal a touch of suchsternness, as forbade even the boldest to reply. Great, therefore, wasthe surprise of all, when a hollow and broken voice murmured, in answer,from the causeway,--

  "There is ONE,--there are an hundred,--there _have been_ (but now theyare not,) a thousand men, who say that, this night, Cortes hath proved acraven, a deserter of his friends, a traitor to his king, a betrayer ofhis God,--and, therefore, a villain!"

  As these words were uttered, there staggered up the bank, on which theparty rested, a figure, seemingly of a cavalier, but his armour so rentand demolished, as, in many places, to leave his body naked. His helmetwas gone, and his locks, dripping with water and blood, fell over hisbreast, leaving their crimson stains on the white mantle muffling thebody of some slighter figure, which he bore in his arms.

  "I forgive thee, De Morla!" cried the general, rushing forwards, andthen recoiling, as Don Francisco deposited the burden at his feet, and,removing the cloth reeking with water as with gore, disclosed to theview of all, gently touched by the ray of that wasted and melancholymoon, the countenance of the dead princess. "Who hath struck thedaughter of Montezuma?--who hath done this deed?"

  "He who hath smitten the hearts of a thousand Christians, by leadingthem into peril, and deserting them in their need!" said the cavalier,with a tranquillity that struck all with terror, for it was unnatural;"he, who commanded me to fling, while living, this child of a murderedking into the lake, or upon the spears of Tlascalans, and then get meback to the foe, that he might himself fly in safety!"

  "Thou art mad, Francisco! and thou doest me foul injustice!" said DonHernan, hurriedly. "I fled not; nor did I bid thee do aught but entrustthis hapless maiden to some strong band of allies, thou being thyselfon foot, and, therefore, incompetent to protect her."

  "You called me craven, too!" said the cavalier, with a hoarse laugh,raising his voice aloud. "Thou liest!--I am braver than thou; for mybody is covered with woun
ds--from the crown to the sole, there is nopart but is mangled;--and yet thou hast not a limb but is untouched! Youcall me craven! God smite you with punishment, for you are _all_cravens, knaves, and murderers together! You wait on the banks, while weare dying, and you call us cravens! God will do us right! God willavenge us! God will hear our prayers! and so God curse you all, and keepyour bones for the maws of infidels!"

  Thus speaking, and concluding with the voice of a madman, the youngcavalier cast a look on the dead princess, and, uttering a horridscream, ran back, distracted, to the causeway.

  "In the name of God, on!" exclaimed an hundred voices; "we are _not_cravens and murderers, and Spaniards shall not fall unaided!"

  Don Hernan himself, stung by the sarcasms of the unhappy andwell-beloved cavalier, was the first to clap spurs to his horse; andagain the thunder of cavalry, and the quick tread of footmen moving inorder, were heard on the dike of Tacuba.