CHAPTER XXV
THE BURYING OF MONTEZUMA'S TREASURE
Cuitlahua was crowned Emperor of the Aztecs in succession to his brotherMontezuma, while I lay sick with the wound given me by the sword ofde Garcia, and also with that which I had received on the altar ofsacrifice. This hurt had found no time to heal, and in the fiercefighting on the Night of Fear it burst open and bled much. Indeed itgave me trouble for years, and to this hour I feel it in the autumnseason. Otomie, who nursed me tenderly, and so strange is the heartof woman, even seemed to be consoled in her sorrow at the loss of herfather and nearest kin, because I had escaped the slaughter and wonfame, told me of the ceremony of the crowning, which was splendidenough. Indeed the Aztecs were almost mad with rejoicing because theTeules had gone at last. They forgot, or seemed to forget, the loss ofthousands of their bravest warriors and of the flower of their rank, andas yet, at any rate, they did not look forward to the future. Fromhouse to house and street to street ran troops of young men and maidensgarlanded with flowers, crying, 'The Teules are gone, rejoice withus; the Teules are fled!' and woe to them who were not merry, ay, eventhough their houses were desolate with death. Also the statues of thegods were set up again on the great pyramid and their temples rebuilt,the holy crucifix that the Spaniards had placed there being served asthe idols Huitzel and Tezcat had been served, and tumbled down the sidesof the teocalli, and that after sacrifice of some Spanish prisoners hadbeen offered in its presence. It was Guatemoc himself who told meof this sacrilege, but not with any exultation, for I had taught himsomething of our faith, and though he was too sturdy a heathen to changehis creed, in secret he believed that the God of the Christians wasa true and mighty God. Moreover, though he was obliged to countenancethem, because of the power of the priests, like Otomie, Guatemoc neverloved the horrid rites of human sacrifice.
Now when I heard this tale my anger overcame my reason, and I spokefiercely, saying:
'I am sworn to your cause, Guatemoc, my brother, and I am married toyour blood, but I tell you that from this hour it is an accursed cause;because of your bloodstained idols and your priests, it is accursed.That God whom you have desecrated, and those who serve Him shall comeback in power, and He shall sit where your idols sat and none shall stirHim for ever.'
Thus I spoke, and my words were true, though I do not know what put theminto my heart, since I spoke at random in my wrath. For to-day Christ'sChurch stands upon the site of the place of sacrifice in Mexico, a signand a token of His triumph over devils, and there it shall stand whilethe world endures.
'You speak rashly, my brother,' Guatemoc answered, proudly enough,though I saw him quail at the evil omen of my words. 'I say you speakrashly, and were you overheard there are those, notwithstanding the rankwe have given you, the honour which you have won in war and council, andthat you have passed the stone of sacrifice, who might force you to lookagain upon the faces of the beings you blaspheme. What worse thing hasbeen done to your Christian God than has been done again and again toour gods by your white kindred? But let us talk no more of this matter,and I pray you, my brother, do not utter such ill-omened words to meagain, lest it should strain our love. Do you then believe that theTeules will return?'
'Ay, Guatemoc, so surely as to-morrow's sun shall rise. When you heldCortes in your hand you let him go, and since then he has won a victoryat Otompan. Is he a man, think you, to sheathe the sword that he hasonce drawn, and go down into darkness and dishonour? Before a year ispast the Spaniards will be back at the gates of Tenoctitlan.'
'You are no comforter to-night, my brother,' said Guatemoc, 'and yet Ifear that your words are true. Well, if we must fight, let us striveto win. Now, at least, there is no Montezuma to take the viper tohis breast and nurse it till it stings him.' Then he rose and went insilence, and I saw that his heart was heavy.
On the morrow of this talk I could leave my bed, and within a week I wasalmost well. Now it was that Guatemoc came to me again, saying that hehad been bidden by Cuitlahua the emperor, to command me to accompanyhim, Guatemoc, on a service of trust and secrecy. And indeed the natureof the service showed how great a confidence the leaders of the Aztecsnow placed in me, for it was none other than the hiding away of thetreasure that had been recaptured from the Spaniards on the Night ofFear, and with it much more from the secret stores of the empire.
At the fall of darkness we started, some of the great lords, Guatemocand I, and coming to the water's edge, we found ten large canoes, eachladen with something that was hidden by cotton cloths. Into these canoeswe entered secretly, thinking that none saw us, three to a canoe, forthere were thirty of us in all, and led by Guatemoc, we paddled for twohours or more across the Lake Tezcuco, till we reached the further shoreat a spot where this prince had a fair estate. Here we landed, and thecloths were withdrawn from the cargoes of the canoes, which were greatjars and sacks of gold and jewels, besides many other precious objects,among them a likeness of the head of Montezuma, fashioned in solid gold,which was so heavy that it was as much as Guatemoc and I could do tolift it between us. As for the jars, of which, if my memory serves me,there were seventeen, six men must carry each of them by the help ofpaddles lashed on either side, and then the task was not light. All thispriceless stuff we bore in several journeys to the crest of a rise somesix hundred paces distant from the water, setting it down by the mouthof a shaft behind the shelter of a mound of earth. When everything wasbrought up from the boats, Guatemoc touched me and another man, a greatAztec noble, born of a Tlascalan mother, on the shoulder, asking us ifwe were willing to descend with him into the hole, and there to disposeof the treasure.
'Gladly,' I answered, for I was curious to see the place, but the noblehesitated awhile, though in the end he came with us, to his ill-fortune.
Then Guatemoc took torches in his hand, and was lowered into the shaftby a rope. Next came my turn, and down I went, hanging to the cord likea spider to its thread, and the hole was very deep. At length I foundmyself standing by the side of Guatemoc at the foot of the shaft, roundwhich, as I saw by the light of the torch he carried, an edging of driedbricks was built up to the height of a man above our heads. Resting onthis edging and against the wall of the shaft, was a massive block ofstone sculptured with the picture writing of the Aztecs. I glanced atthe writing, which I could now read well, and saw that it recordedthe burying of the treasure in the first year of Cuitlahua, Emperor ofMexico, and also a most fearful curse on him who should dare to stealit. Beyond us and at right angles to the shaft ran another passage, tenpaces in length and high enough for a man to walk in, which led to achamber hollowed in the earth, as large as that wherein I write to-dayat Ditchingham. By the mouth of this chamber were placed piles of adobebricks and mortar, much as the blocks of hewn stone had been placed inthat underground vault at Seville where Isabella de Siguenza was brickedup living.
'Who dug this place?' I asked.
'Those who knew not what they dug,' answered Guatemoc. 'But see, hereis our companion. Now, my brother, I charge you be surprised at nothingwhich comes to pass, and be assured I have good reason for anything thatI may do.'
Before I could speak again the Aztec noble was at our side. Then thoseabove began to lower the jars and sacks of treasure, and as they reachedus one by one, Guatemoc loosed the ropes and checked them, while theAztec and I rolled them down the passage into the chamber, as here inEngland men roll a cask of ale. For two hours and more we worked, tillat length all were down and the tale was complete. The last parcel to belowered was a sack of jewels that burst open as it came, and descendedupon us in a glittering rain of gems. As it chanced, a great necklace ofemeralds of surpassing size and beauty fell over my head and hung uponmy shoulders.
'Keep it, brother,' laughed Guatemoc, 'in memory of this night,' andnothing loth, I hid the bauble in my breast. That necklace I have yet,and it was a stone of it--the smallest save one--that I gave to ourgracious Queen Elizabeth. Otomie wore it for many years, and for thisreason it shall be buried with me, though its val
ue is priceless, so saythose who are skilled in gems. But priceless or no, it is doomed to liein the mould of Ditchingham churchyard, and may that same curse whichis graved upon the stone that hides the treasure of the Aztecs fall uponhim who steals it from my bones.
Now, leaving the chamber, we three entered the tunnel and began the workof building the adobe wall. When it was of a height of between two andthree feet, Guatemoc paused from his labour and bade me hold a torchaloft. I obeyed wondering what he wished to see. Then he drew back somethree paces into the tunnel and spoke to the Aztec noble, our companion,by name.
'What is the fate of discovered traitors, friend?' he said in a voicethat, quiet though it was, sounded very terrible; and, as he spoke, heloosed from his side the war club set with spikes of glass that hungthere by a thong.
Now the Aztec turned grey beneath his dusky skin and trembled in hisfear.
'What mean you, lord?' he gasped.
'You know well what I mean,' answered Guatemoc in the same terriblevoice, and lifted the club.
Then the doomed man fell upon his knees crying for mercy, and hiswailing sounded so awful in that deep and lonely place that in my horrorI went near to letting the torch fall.
'To a foe I can give mercy--to a traitor, none,' answered Guatemoc, andwhirling the club aloft, he rushed upon the noble and killed him with ablow. Then, seizing the body in his strong embrace, he cast it into thechamber with the treasure, and there it lay still and dreadful amongthe gems and gold, the arms, as it chanced, being wound about two of thegreat jars as though the dead man would clasp them to his heart.
Now I looked at Guatemoc who had slain him, wondering if my hour was athand also, for I knew well that when princes bury their wealth they holdthat few should share the secret.
'Fear not, my brother,' said Guatemoc. 'Listen: this man was a thief, adastard, and a traitor. As we know now, he strove twice to betray us tothe Teules. More, it was his plan to show this nest of wealth to them,should they return again, and to share the spoil. All this we learnedfrom a woman whom he thought his love, but who was in truth a spy set toworm herself into the secrets of his wicked heart. Now let him take hisfill of gold; look how he grips it even in death, a white man could nothug the stuff more closely to his breast. Ah! Teule, would that the soilof Anahuac bore naught but corn for bread and flint and copper forthe points of spears and arrows, then had her sons been free for ever.Curses on yonder dross, for it is the bait that sets these sea sharkstearing at our throats. Curses on it, I say; may it never glitter morein the sunshine, may it be lost for ever!' And he fell fiercely to thework of building up the wall.
Soon it was almost done; but before we set the last bricks, which wereshaped in squares like the clay lump that we use for the building offarmeries and hinds' houses in Norfolk, I thrust a torch through theopening and looked for the last time at the treasure chamber that wasalso a dead-house. There lay the glittering gems; there, stood upon ajar, gleamed the golden head of Montezuma, of which the emerald eyesseemed to glare at me, and there, his back resting against this samejar, and his arms encircling two others to the right and left, was thedead man. But he was no longer dead, or so it seemed to me; at theleast his eyes that were shut had opened, and they stared at me like theemerald eyes of the golden statue above him, only more fearfully.
Very hastily I withdrew the torch, and we finished in silence. When itwas done we withdrew to the end of the passage and looked up the shaft,and I for one was glad to see the stars shining in heaven above me. Thenwe made a double loop in the rope, and at a signal were hauled uptill we hung over the ledge where the black mass of marble rested, thetombstone of Montezuma's treasure, and of him who sleeps among it.
This stone, that was nicely balanced, we pushed with our hands and feettill presently it fell forward with a heavy sound, and catching on theridge of brick which had been prepared to receive it, shut the treasureshaft in such a fashion that those who would enter it again must takepowder with them.
Then we were dragged up, and came to the surface of the earth in safety.
Now one asked of the Aztec noble who had gone down with us and returnedno more.
'He has chosen to stay and watch the treasure, like a good and loyalman, till such time as his king needs it,' answered Guatemoc grimly, andthe listeners nodded, understanding all.
Then they fell to and filled up the narrow shaft with the earth thatlay ready, working without cease, and the dawn broke before the task wasfinished. When at length the hole was full, one of our companions tookseeds from a bag and scattered them on the naked earth, also he settwo young trees that he had brought with him in the soil of the shaft,though why he did this I do not know, unless it was to mark the spot.All being done we gathered up the ropes and tools, and embarking inthe canoes, came back to Mexico in the morning, leaving the canoes at alanding-place outside the city, and finding our way to our homes by onesand twos, as we thought unnoticed of any.
Thus it was that I helped in the burying of Montezuma's treasure, forthe sake of which I was destined to suffer torture in days to come.Whether any will help to unbury it I do not know, but till I left theland of Anahuac the secret had been kept, and I think that then, exceptmyself, all those were dead who laboured with me at this task. Itchanced that I passed the spot as I came down to Mexico for the lasttime, and knew it again by the two trees that were growing tall andstrong, and as I went by with Spaniards at my side, I swore in my heartthat they should never finger the gold by my help. It is for this reasonthat even now I do not write of the exact bearings of the place whereit lies buried with the bones of the traitor, though I know them wellenough, seeing that in days to come what I set down here might fall intothe hands of one of their nation.
And now, before I go on to speak of the siege of Mexico, I must tell ofone more matter, namely of how I and Otomie my wife went up among thepeople of the Otomie, and won a great number of them back to theirallegiance to the Aztec crown. It must be known, if my tale has notmade this clear already, that the Aztec power was not of one people,but built up of several, and that surrounding it were many other tribes,some of whom were in alliance with it or subject to it, and some of whomwere its deadly enemies. Such for instance were the Tlascalans, a smallbut warlike people living between Mexico and the coast, by whose helpCortes overcame Montezuma and Guatemoc. Beyond the Tlascalans and to thewest, the great Otomie race lived or lives among its mountains. Theyare a braver nation than the Aztecs, speaking another language, of adifferent blood, and made up of many clans. Sometimes they were subjectto the great Aztec empire, sometimes in alliance, and sometimes at openwar with it and in close friendship with the Tlascalans. It was todraw the tie closer between the Aztecs and the Otomies, who were to theinhabitants of Anahuac much what the Scottish clans are to the peopleof England, that Montezuma took to wife the daughter and sole legitimateissue of their great chief or king. This lady died in childbirth, andher child was Otomie my wife, hereditary princess of the Otomie. Butthough her rank was so great among her mother's people, as yet Otomiehad visited them but twice, and then as a child. Still, she was wellskilled in their language and customs, having been brought up by nursesand tutors of the tribes, from which she drew a great revenue every yearand over whom she exercised many rights of royalty that were rendered toher far more freely than they had been to Montezuma her father.
Now as has been said, some of these Otomie clans had joined theTlascalans, and as their allies had taken part in the war on the side ofthe Spaniards, therefore it was decided at a solemn council that Otomieand I her husband should go on an embassy to the chief town of thenation, that was known as the City of Pines, and strive to win it backto the Aztec standard.
Accordingly, heralds having been sent before us, we started upon ourjourney, not knowing how we should be received at the end of it. Foreight days we travelled in great pomp and with an ever-increasingescort, for when the tribes of the Otomie learned that their princesswas come to visit them in person, bringing with her her husband, a manof th
e Teules who had espoused the Aztec cause, they flocked in vastnumbers to swell her retinue, so that it came to pass that before wereached the City of Pines we were accompanied by an army of at least tenthousand mountaineers, great men and wild, who made a savage music as wemarched. But with them and with their chiefs as yet we held no converseexcept by way of formal greeting, though every morning when we startedon our journey, Otomie in a litter and I on a horse that had beencaptured from the Spaniards, they set up shouts of salutation and madethe mountains ring. Ever as we went the land like its people grew wilderand more beautiful, for now we were passing through forests clad withoak and pine and with many a lovely plant and fern. Sometimes we crossedgreat and sparkling rivers and sometimes we wended through gorges andpasses of the mountains, but every hour we mounted higher, till atlength the climate became like that of England, only far more bright. Atlast on the eighth day we passed through a gorge riven in the red rock,which was so narrow in places that three horsemen could scarcely haveridden there abreast. This gorge, that is five miles long, is the highroad to the City of Pines, to which there was no other access except bysecret paths across the mountains, and on either side of it are sheerand towering cliffs that rise to heights of between one and two thousandfeet.
'Here is a place where a hundred men might hold an army at bay,' I saidto Otomie, little knowing that it would be my task to do so in a day tocome.
Presently the gorge took a turn and I reined up amazed, for before mewas the City of Pines in all its beauty. The city lay in a wheelshapedplain that may measure twelve miles across, and all around this plainare mountains clad to their summits with forests of oak and cedar trees.At the back of the city and in the centre of the ring of mountains isone, however, that is not green with foliage but black with lava, andabove the lava white with snow, over which again hangs a pillar of smokeby day and a pillar of fire by night. This was the volcan Xaca, or theQueen, and though it is not so lofty as its sisters Orizaba, Popo, andIxtac, to my mind it is the loveliest of them all, both because of itsperfect shape, and of the colours, purple and blue, of the fires thatit sends forth at night or when its heart is troubled. The Otomiesworshipped this mountain as a god, offering human sacrifice to it, whichwas not wonderful, for once the lava pouring from its bowels cut a paththrough the City of Pines. Also they think it holy and haunted, so thatnone dare set foot upon its loftier snows. Nevertheless I was destinedto climb them--I and one other.
Now in the lap of this ring of mountains and watched over by the mightyXaca, clad in its robe of snow, its cap of smoke, and its crown of fire,lies, or rather lay the City of Pines, for now it is a ruin, or so Ileft it. As to the city itself, it was not so large as some others thatI have seen in Anahuac, having only a population of some five and thirtythousand souls, since the Otomie, being a race of mountaineers, didnot desire to dwell in cities. But if it was not great, it was the mostbeautiful of Indian towns, being laid out in straight streets that metat the square in its centre. All along these streets were houses eachstanding in a garden, and for the most part built of blocks of lava androofed with a cement of white lime. In the midst of the square stood theteocalli or pyramid of worship, crowned with temples that were garnishedwith ropes of skulls, while beyond the pyramid and facing it, was thepalace, the home of Otomie's forefathers, a long, low, and very ancientbuilding having many courts, and sculptured everywhere with snakes andgrinning gods. Both the palace and the pyramid were cased with a finewhite stone that shone like silver in the sunlight, and contrastedstrangely with the dark-hued houses that were built of lava.
Such was the City of Pines when I saw it first. When I saw it last itwas but a smoking ruin, and now doubtless it is the home of bats andjackals; now it is 'a court for owls,' now 'the line of confusion isstretched out upon it and the stones of emptiness fill its streets.'
Passing from the mouth of the gorge we travelled some miles across theplain, every foot of which was cultivated with corn, maguey or aloe, andother crops, till we came to one of the four gates of the city. Enteringit we found the flat roofs on either side of the wide street crowdedwith hundreds of women and children who threw flowers on us as wepassed, and cried, 'Welcome, princess! Welcome, Otomie, princess of theOtomie!' And when at length we reached the great square, it seemed asthough all the men in Anahuac were gathered there, and they too tookup the cry of 'Welcome, Otomie, princess of the Otomie!' till the earthshook with the sound. Me also they saluted as I passed, by touching theearth with their right hands and then holding the hand above the head,but I think that the horse I rode caused them more wonder than I did,for the most of them had never seen a horse and looked on it as amonster or a demon. So we went on through the shouting mass, followedand preceded by thousands of warriors, many of them decked in glitteringfeather mail and bearing broidered banners, till we had passed thepyramid, where I saw the priests at their cruel work above us, and werecome to the palace gates. And here in a strange chamber sculptured withgrinning demons we found rest for a while.
On the morrow in the great hall of the palace was held a council of thechiefs and head men of the Otomie clans, to the number of a hundred ormore. When all were gathered, dressed as an Aztec noble of the firstrank, I came out with Otomie, who wore royal robes and looked mostbeautiful in them, and the council rose to greet us. Otomie bade them beseated and addressed them thus:
'Hear me, you chiefs and captains of my mother's race, who am yourprincess by right of blood, the last of your ancient rulers, and who ammoreover the daughter of Montezuma, Emperor of Anahuac, now dead to usbut living evermore in the Mansions of the Sun. First I present to youthis my husband, the lord Teule, to whom I was given in marriage whenhe held the spirit of the god Tezcat, and whom, when he had passed thealtar of the god, being chosen by heaven to aid us in our war, Iwedded anew after the fashion of the earth, and by the will of my royalbrethren. Know, chiefs and captains, that this lord, my husband, is notof our Indian blood, nor is he altogether of the blood of the Teuleswith whom we are at war, but rather of that of the true children ofQuetzal, the dwellers in a far off northern sea who are foes to theTeules. And as they are foes, so this my lord is their foe, and asdoubtless you have heard, of all the deeds of arms that were wroughtupon the night of the slaying of the Teules, none were greater than his,and it was he who first discovered their retreat.
'Chiefs and captains of the great and ancient people of the Otomie, Iyour princess have been sent to you by Cuitlahua, my king and yours,together with my lord, to plead with you on a certain matter. Our kinghas heard, and I also have heard with shame, that many of the warriorsof our blood have joined the Tlascalans, who were ever foes to theAztecs, in their unholy alliance with the Teules. Now for a while thewhite men are beaten back, but they have touched the gold they covet,and they will return again like bees to a half-drained flower. Theywill return, yet of themselves they can do nothing against the glory ofTenoctitlan. But how shall it go if with them come thousands and tensof thousands of the Indian peoples? I know well that now in this timeof trouble, when kingdoms crumble, when the air is full of portents, andthe very gods seem impotent, there are many who would seize the momentand turn it to their profit. There are many men and tribes who rememberancient wars and wrongs, and who cry, "Now is the hour of vengeance,now we will think on the widows that the Aztec spears have made, on thetribute which they have wrung from our poverty to swell their wealth,and on the captives who have decked the altars of their sacrifice!"
'Is it not so? Ay, it is so, and I cannot wonder at it. Yet I ask you toremember this, that the yoke you would help to set upon the neck of thequeen of cities will fit your neck also. O foolish men, do you thinkthat you shall be spared when by your aid Tenoctitlan is a ruin and theAztecs are no more a people? I say to you never. The sticks that theTeules use to beat out the life of Tenoctitlan shall by them be brokenone by one and cast into the fire to burn. If the Aztecs fall, thenearly or late every tribe within this wide land shall fall. They shallbe slain, their cities shall be stamped flat, thei
r wealth shall bewrung from them, and their children shall eat the bread of slavery anddrink the water of affliction. Choose, ye people of the Otomie. Will youstand by the men of your own customs and country, though they have beenyour foes at times, or will you throw in your lot with the stranger?Choose, ye people of the Otomie, and know this, that on your choice andthat of the other men of Anahuac, depends the fate of Anahuac. I am yourprincess, and you should obey me, but to-day I issue no command. I saychoose between the alliance of the Aztec and the yoke of the Teule, andmay the god above the gods, the almighty, the invisible god, direct yourchoice.'
Otomie ceased and a murmur of applause went round the hall. Alas, I cando no justice to the fire of her words, any more than I can describe thedignity and loveliness of her person as it seemed in that hour. But theywent to the hearts of the rude chieftains who listened. Many of themdespised the Aztecs as a womanish people of the plains and the lakes,a people of commerce. Many had blood feuds against them dating back forgenerations. But still they knew that their princess spoke truth, andthat the triumph of the Teule in Tenoctitlan would mean his triumph overevery city throughout the land. So then and there they chose, thoughin after days, in the stress of defeat and trouble, many went back upontheir choice as is the fashion of men.
'Otomie,' cried their spokesman, after they had taken counsel together,'we have chosen. Princess, your words have conquered us. We throw inour lot with the Aztecs and will fight to the last for freedom from theTeule.'
'Now I see that you are indeed my people, and I am indeed your ruler,'answered Otomie. 'So the great lords who are gone, my forefathers, yourchieftains, would have spoken in a like case. May you never regret thischoice, my brethren, Men of the Otomie.'
And so it came to pass that when we left the City of Pines we took fromit to Cuitlahua the emperor, a promise of an army of twenty thousand menvowed to serve him to the death in his war against the Spaniard.
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