CHAPTER XXXVI.
In order that the reader may be made acquainted with the circumstancesin Mitla's case, which led to her appearance, so opportunely forEuetzin, in the camp of Maxtla's defeated army, it will be necessaryfor us to go back to the holding of the tournament at Tlacopan, andnotice, briefly, a few of the incidents connected with her movements.
When Ix's mountain guard came to that city to join the army, they didso as individuals, and were accompanied by a number of their people,consisting mostly of women and men servants, who came, especially, towitness the tourney. Mitla was of the party, coming at the request ofEuetzin to take part in the archers' contest, and whose skill, it willbe remembered, proved such an interesting feature of the occasion.
The real object for which the tournament was gotten up had not becomeknown beyond the circle of close-mouthed projectors of the movementagainst Maxtla, and Mitla, as one of the public, was therefore ignorantof what was to follow. She was to have returned to her home at theconclusion of the tourney, with her party, but when the excitement,which ensued upon the heels of it because of the unavoidable publicityof the movement, became absorbingly intense, and she learned the truesituation of affairs, she determined on pursuing a different course.Her love for the tzin, which had so quickly become an irresistible,absorbing passion, and which had given added fervency by the grandeurof the scene in which he was a conspicuous figure, and she an object ofspecial attention and admiration--together with a longing desire to benear him, which had suddenly taken possession of her--outweighed allother considerations, and she resolved on following him to the field.How to accomplish this, without her presence in the army becoming knownto him, was a matter of no little moment--especially to her, aninexperienced mountain girl. However, love knows no barriers too greatto be surmounted, and hers was not an exception. She settled thequestion by procuring the necessary apparel with which to change herappearance to that of a boy, which she carried away with her when sheleft the city--presumably to return to her home.
The first night out, after leaving Tlacopan, the madly infatuatedmaiden took advantage of circumstances to quietly slip from among herpeople, with a view to carrying out her determination to follow thetzin. Getting far enough away from the camp of her friends to feelreasonably secure from discovery, she made the intended transformation,at the same time deepening the color of her complexion by using a stainprocured from the bark of a tree. When the disguise was completed, andher discarded clothing carefully concealed where it could be found,should the opportunity ever come around for recovering it, she startedon her backward journey.
Mitla was now completely lost in the character she had assumed. Herclosest friends would not have recognized her, so perfect was thedisguise. Instead of a beautiful young maiden, a stoutly-built,well-appearing lad, with a very dark complexion, moved with hurriedstep, and eyes peering almost expectantly into the darkness ahead ofhim, in the direction of Tlacopan.
The adoption of a name for herself, corresponding with her disguise,before reaching her destination, now became a necessary expedient, andMitla's genius for that kind of invention was for the first time--and,we might add, the last--brought into operation. After calling up allthe names within her recollection, and, inventing not a few, shefinally settled upon Hualla--very appropriate and well suited, andunder it found her way into the allied army.
Fear of detection made the disguised maiden wary of getting into a tooclose proximity to those who knew her best. This led her to avoid themountain guard and her Tezcucan friends, and to go in search of thegallant young leader of the Tlacopan army, for whom she had conceivedquite a liking, from his genial and kindly disposition. Afterconsiderable trouble and worry she found the gracious Macua, and, onbeing admitted to his presence, told him that she wished to go with thearmy, and could think of no position which she could fill except thatof messenger, in which capacity, she asked, would he kindly allow herto serve him. She made an attractive appearing youth, and readily foundfavor with the young chief, who immediately installed her a member ofhis military household. To become an attachee of Macua's officialfamily was not to become a slave, by any means, and our mountainheroine found frequent means for gratifying her peculiar longings.
To be where she could occasionally have a look at the man she so wildlyloved, her idol, was the sole object of Mitla's self-imposedmasquerading. The tzin's division of Tezcucans was soon located by her,and no move or change was made by it that she was not aware of.Whenever her duty brought her near to where the young cacique--a titlethe tzin had acquired by virtue of his position as a leader--wasstationed, she made it a point to have a good look at him, on severalof which occasions he saw her, but, thinking her only an inquisitivelad, paid little attention to her actions.
When the great battle occurred, Mitla stationed herself where everymove the tzin made could be watched by her unerring eye of love. WhenMaxtla made his attack, she saw with bated breath the terrible strugglewhich ensued, and when Euetzin, at the head of his Tezcucan legion,rushed to the aid of the hard pressed allies, her heart stood stillfrom fear and dread. It was not long after this when it became adifficult matter to distinguish friend from foe, and the tzin passedfrom her sight to be seen not again until found by her in the enemy'scamp. His disappearance relieved the nervous strain the sight of hisexposure caused her to experience, yet deepened her anxiety for hissafety. The time seemed an age to her in which the opposing forcesstruggled with each other for the mastery. Victory finally came,however, to crown the efforts of those in whom she was interested, andwhen it did come she was quickly mingling with the triumphant warriorsof the tzin's division, to learn if he were safe or not. When it wasdiscovered that he was missing, her feelings of grief and dread wereindescribable. She could be brave while Euetzin was near and safe; but,if lost, what should she do? After learning to a certainty that herbeloved was surely a prisoner, as the failure to find his body on thebattle field had proven to the satisfaction of the leaders, sheresolved to follow the retreating army, and, if he were discovered, toliberate him or die in the attempt. She put her resolution intoexecution, with the happy result already known to the reader.
* * * * *
Euetzin experienced a good deal of solicitude for Mitla's people afterlearning what had been her course. Their anxiety and distress at herstrange and mysterious disappearance, he thought, could not be otherthan extreme, and he determined that they should be relieved at theearliest possible moment. He communicated his feelings on the subjectto her, and found that she was not a little worried over the matterherself, now that her identity was revealed. It was decided, in view ofthe unpropitious circumstances, that she should go home so soon asarrangements for a suitable escort could be made. It was at thisjuncture of the situation that Cacami and his party came upon thescene.
The meeting between the two friends was very cordial, which evidencedthe warm feelings of friendship which had grown up between them.
The particulars of the tzin's capture and escape, in which theinvaluable services rendered by Hualla in effecting the latter weremade a subject of special mention, were detailed to Cacami, who heardthe account, especially that portion of it relating to the lad'sconduct, with no little astonishment. His astonishment in thisconnection, however, was not to be compared with that which followedwhen he was let into the secret of Hualla's identity, and informed bythe tzin that it was his purpose to make the brave girl his wife.
"I am lost in amazement," he exclaimed, "at the surprises which seem tomeet me at every turn! When will they cease?"
"Not until you have found your affinity, Cacami; have made yourproposal, and surprised us with a denouement," replied the tzinpleasantly, little dreaming that his friend had already found hisaffinity in his own dear sister, and that a surprise would come out ofit, in comparison with which the surprise of Cacami at his declarationwould be as nothing--but we anticipate.
Euetzin was not yet sufficiently recovered to bear moving, and asCacami would be
obliged to wait or return to Tezcuco without him, thelatter, on learning of the tzin's desire that Mitla should returnquickly as might be to her people, proposed that he and his men shouldbe her escort. Euetzin thanked him for the suggestion, and accepted itas a most opportune way out of a very peculiar dilemma.
A transformation now took place, and Hualla ceased to be, except in therecollections of the tzin, as an inseparable factor in a portion of hisexperience which he could never forget, and which went to make up themost eventful period of his life; while Mitla, happy in theconsciousness of a requited love--though realizing that her beauty wassomewhat marred by the unnatural darkness of her complexion--sat by thebedside of her afflicted lover listening to the words of endearmentwhich he was speaking.
"Hualla, the noble lad, to whom I owed so great a debt, is no more," hewas saying; "yet he will never be forgotten. He has left a legacy toyou, Mitla, in my gratitude for his brave conduct in my behalf. Thusyou will have a double portion: my gratitude to him, and my best lovefor your dear self. Are you not happy, Mitla?"
"Yes, Euetzin, more happy than I can tell," was her reply; still, heractions did not warrant it. The thought that she must part from him atthis time pressed heavily upon her heart, and when she had spoken, shedropped her head upon the hand which she was holding; as she did so, atear trickled down over her cheek and fell upon it.
"Why, Mitla!" exclaimed the tzin, anxiously, "you are in tears! Whathas disturbed you?"
"They are tears of joy, Euetzin, mingled with sadness--sadness that Iam about to leave you, and you so ill. I would remain to nurse you backto health, but you have advised, wisely, no doubt, that I should go;and I feel restrained, against inclination, to do so, that my peoplemay no longer mourn for me as lost."
"Yes, Mitla, it will be better so. I will soon be well--thanks toyou--and back in Tezcuco, where you shall early join me, to go away nomore; then our happiness will be complete. You must be brave; it werenot like Hualla to weep," spoke the tzin, persuasively.
"I will weep no more, Euetzin; you shall see that she whom you love isbrave, even as Hualla," she replied, wiping away her tears.
Euetzin realized that the time was close at hand when the escort wouldcome to take his loved Mitla from him, and drawing her to him, he said:
"Your unbounded love, which saved and brought me where I am, is worthmore than all else in the world to me; and my life's best effort shallbe to make you happy. Go from me with this assurance, and think only ofthe joy our reunion will bring."
The lover's parting kiss was exchanged, and Mitla disengaged herselffrom the tzin's embrace--none too soon either; for just then Cacamientered to say that the palanquin awaited her occupancy. A few minuteslater she had taken her seat in the chair, and the little processionmoved away.
Under Cacami's careful direction Mitla was transported in comfort andsafety back to her mountain home. Her arrival there was the return of aloved one given up as lost. The meeting was very affecting, filled asit was with a terrible struggle between love and joy, and a feeling ofinjured confidence and resentment for the mastery in the hearts of theaggrieved parents. Cacami, fearful that harsh treatment might be instore for the offending daughter, pleaded her cause with earnestnessand eloquence:
"Mitla, though blamable from a prudential standpoint, has provenherself a heroine. Had not her hand, O Tezcot, the hand of your child,brought succor and release to Euetzin, he would to-day, if alive, be inthe hands of Maxtla, awaiting the awful fate of a prisoner of war. Itwas her great love that saved to us a noble friend. Such devotion isworthy the reward it has won: Euetzin's plighted troth. They will wed,and the daughter of the wise hunter, the friend of the greatIxtlilchoatl, will become the happy wife of a noble, who will assuredlybe among the exalted of the king's household. Forget her imprudence, OTezcot, O Xochitl, and forgive. Euetzin asks it, and I plead for it."
"Mitla is dear to the hearts of all her people, and we do not forget,while blaming her, that she should have our sympathy, for she wasgreatly affected by love for the tzin," replied the generous Tezcot."Yes, we will forget and forgive, for our love's sake, and the sake ofour friends. So say you to Euetzin."
After a day of rejoicing and feasting with the family of the hunter,Cacami and his party started on their return journey, the young warriorleader happy and exultant from the success of his efforts as apeacemaker.
In due time the little party was back with the tzin, to find himsufficiently recovered to allow of his transfer to Tezcuco.
Happy, indeed, was the hour in which Euetzin and Itzalmo were set downin the Tezcucan palace, and the little circle of friends, so ruthlesslybroken up by the Tepanec despot, was again complete. To emphasize hispleasure, the prince ordered a grand reception and banquet to be givenin honor of the restoration of his friends. It was a glorious time ofrejoicing, hardly less affecting than were the scenes which followedthe prince's return to his joyful people a victorious leader.
"Let joy be unconfined!" Hualcoyotl might have proclaimed in that hourof a happy reunion; and yet, how deep was the mental affliction which,all unknown to him, was then hanging over and threatening not only hisown peace of mind, but that of nearly all the chief participants in thepleasurable event.
A Prince of Anahuac: A Histori-traditional Story Antedating the Aztec Empire Page 38