XXXII.
EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE.
While yet we were a long way off from the city, we heard faintly theyells of triumph with which the watchers above the water-gate gavenotice to those within the walls of the return of the victorious army;and from all the boats of our flotilla there went up a shrill chorus ofanswering yells. Our barge was the first to pass through the water-gate,out from which we had come so gallantly so short a time before, andthence went onward across the basin to the very pier that we hadstarted from with such high hopes to gather the forces for the rebellionthat had come to so sorry an end.
All the water-side was black with the crowd that had gathered to watchour landing; but, considering that these people were there to welcome avictorious army, it seemed to me that they were strangely still anddull. There was, to be sure, no lack of yelling, but it came for themost part from a company of priests clustered on the pier where welanded, and from the soldiers and oarsmen in the boats--not from thetownsfolk at large. And when we were marched upward through thecity--following the same street that we had fought our way along whenlast we traversed it--I saw in the crowd so many sullen and dejectedfaces that it seemed to me there still was in that city a good deal ofmaterial for the making of another mutiny.
This time we were not taken to the house in which we had met the PriestCaptain, and whence we had been delivered from imprisonment by Tizoc'sgallant rescue of us; but, passing a little beyond this house, we wereled up a broad stair-way to the plateau which crowned the city, and onwhich stood the great Treasure-house that also was the temple in whichthe Aztlanecas housed their most venerated gods. And I confess that mydelight at seeing closely this building, that until then I had beheldonly from afar off, for a time completely overcame the dread and sorrowthat had oppressed me; and the very strongest desire that stirred withinme just then was for a tape-measure and a pair of compasses and a steelsquare, together with the opportunity to fall to work with these severalinstruments upon those mighty walls. Indeed, I almost had forgotten thatI was a prisoner, and was like to die soon a very dreadful death, when agroan that poor Rayburn gave--wrung from him by the pain that hesuffered in being carried up the stairs--recalled me suddenly to arealizing sense of our situation, and so pressed home upon me the sadconviction that the science of archaeology would gain nothing of all thatI might see or learn during the little while that I should remain alive.
The outer facing of the plateau, like that of the terraces below it, wasa prodigiously heavy wall of squared stones set in cement; and for acoping this wall had great stones carved in the similitude of serpents'heads, with mouths wide open, that instantly recalled to my mind thelike enclosure that the Spaniards found surrounding the principal templein the city of Tenochtitlan--and I had a sudden strong longing that myfriend Bandelier might be with me at that moment to see how preciselyhis very ingenious speculations concerning the snake-wall about thegreat Teocalli were here confirmed.
Through a portal formed of two huge blocks of stone carved to representtwo serpents coiled upon themselves, the heads meeting above in a sortof arch (not a true arch, for each of these serpents was a monolith, andwas supported wholly on its own base), we entered the large enclosurebefore the temple. I was surprised to find--for of such a thing amongthe ancient Aztecs there is no record--that in the centre of theenclosure the rock had been hewn away in such a fashion as to create avast amphitheatre; and that this was the place where sacrifice wasoffered by the priests was shown by the blood-stained altar in thecentre of it, to which fragments of flesh also adhered, whence waswafted up to us a dreadful stench that instantly racked us with queasyqualms. Save directly in front of the entrance to the temple, where wasa great stone balcony with a smaller balcony below it, all the sides ofthe amphitheatre were cut in steps, which made, also, benches where themultitude could sit at their ease and behold the bloody work going on inthe pit below them; and so enormous was this rock-hewn cavity that fullyforty thousand people could at once be seated there. Under the balconythere was visible the entrance to a dark tunnel-like passage, thatevidently communicated with the temple, and a smaller passage, not largeenough for a man to pass through, slanted downward to where it opened onthe terrace below; which last was to drain the blood away, and also tofree the amphitheatre from water in the season of rains.
We held our noses as we skirted this shocking place, and we were gladenough when we got beyond it and came to the entrance to the temple--avery noble portal, severely simple, and because of its simplicity themore majestic, in which, as in the whole of the facade, was manifest thegrave and sombre Egyptian feeling that I had before observed. Throughthis we passed into the shadowy interior, lighted by only a few narrowslits cut in the enormously thick walls, where the lofty roof wasupheld by a wilderness of columns which opened before us seeminglyendless vistas where an eternal twilight reigned. Of interior decorationthere was nothing save a broad and simple panelling upon the walls, andthe great pillars were mere round monoliths without either bases orcapitals.
As we entered this, to them, most sacred place a hush fell upon ourescort, and even I felt something of that reverent awe that is inspiredby any building which has been sanctified by the worship of multitudeswithin it through countless years. But that Young did not at all sharethis feeling with me was made manifest by his observing, after taking along look around him: "Well, this wouldn't answer for a Congregationalchurch, anyway. There ain't a pew in th' whole place, an' here in broaddaylight you couldn't see a hymn-book if you tried. I wonder what they'dsay, Professor, to a bid for puttin' in a dynamo for 'em an' lightin'this dark old hole with electricity? An' it 'u'd take off a lot o' thischill an' dampness if they'd have a steam-heater put in at th' sametime. It's enough t' give all hands rheumatism th' way cold creepsstrike up your legs." But at this point Young's observations were cutshort peremptorily by the hand that one of the guards laid across hismouth; which hint that it was desirable for him to keep silence wasquite unmistakable.
This decided repression of Young's chattering, no doubt, was the morevigorous because we now were approaching the farther end of the temple,where loomed before us amid the shadows a great idol, set upon analtar-like throne. This figure, fully ten feet high, was a strangemedley of grotesque and hideous carvings that yet in its entirety waslike a man; and so cruel and so ferocious was the general air of it thatit well might inspire a very lively terror in simple souls. The moststriking feature of the figure was a dismal skull, that was outheld fromthe region of the waist by two great hands placed there arbitrarily andwithout any relation to the figure's arms; and for a crest--repeatingthe motive of the gate-way--it had two serpents' heads, the bodiespertaining to which were twisted and involved about the whole mass. Foreyes this evil thing had large and gleaming green stones--being, intruth, emeralds, though I did not at that time recognize them assuch--and golden serpents, very beautifully wrought, were twisted aboutit, and a collar of golden hearts was hung around its neck over a sortof apron of shining green feathers; and feathers of a like sort roseabove the heads of the serpents in a thick plume; and over every part ofthe figure were scattered glittering objects--emeralds, and disks ofgold, and scraps of mother-o'-pearl, and fragments of obsidian--whenceshone through the heavy shadows faint, shimmering points of light. Inone of its out-stretched hands the figure held a bow, and in the other abunch of arrows; but even without these unmistakable attributes I shouldhave known from the skull and from the serpents' heads that this fierceand hideous idol represented the god Huitzilopochtli: the firstdivinity, and throughout the whole time that their bloody religionendured, the principal divinity, that the ancient Mexicans adored.Young did not venture to speak aloud again, but he turned to me with along sigh and whispered, earnestly, "That certainly is, Professor, thevery d----dest thing I ever saw!"
As I knew, it was in keeping with the Aztec customs that prisoners takenin war thus should be brought first of all before the godHuitzilopochtli, that they and their captors together might do himreverence; therefore, I
was not surprised when a priest came forth frombehind the altar and bade us prostrate ourselves in adoration of theidol. As this order was given, all the Aztlanecas with us bowedthemselves to the floor; but Young, who did not understand the order,and I, who felt my gorge rising at the thought of thus humbling myself,remained erect. However, we did not continue through many seconds inthat position; for a couple of soldiers instantly laid hands upon eachof us, and by shoving our shoulders sharply forward, and at the samemoment kicking our legs from under us, they summarily laid us facedownward at full length upon the floor. As for Rayburn, they seemed tobe satisfied with his recumbent position upon the stretcher; at anyrate, they suffered him to remain as he was.
While I lay prone, quivering with rage at the double indignity of beingthus roughly handled, and of being compelled even in form to worship adisgusting idol, I heard an odd little pattering upon the stone floor,and then something cold and clammy was thrust against my hand, and atthe same instant I heard close beside me a curious snuffling noise; andwhile a glad doubt, that I scarce ventured to give way to, was risingwithin me, the clammy thing was taken away from my hand, and therestraightway rang out through the gloomy silence of the temple athunderous braying that seemed fairly to shake the walls. There was nomistaking the voice of the friend who with this triumphant blastwelcomed me; and as I heard it there came into my heart a sudden glow ofhope that Pablo, and that even Fray Antonio also, might still be alive.And this hope was destined to be immediately and most joyfully realized,for as we rose to our feet again I saw the lad standing, with El Sabiobeside him, not a dozen feet away from me; and a little beyond them wasthe monk, his face all lighted up with a bright look of happiness andlove. And seeing these three once more standing alive and well before mewas the most amazing and also the very gladdest sight that ever met myeyes.
It was a sore trial to me that I could not immediately hold conversewith Pablo and with Fray Antonio, and so come to know through whatadventures they had passed, and by what miracles their lives had beensaved; but the ceremony in which our captors were engaged was but halfcompleted, and the better to assure our orderly conduct during itscontinuance we were kept asunder in the procession that then wasformed--the object of which procession, as my knowledge of the Azteccustoms led me rightly to infer, was that the ceremonial of triumphmight be ended by leading us thrice around the sacrificial stone. And intruth I dreaded less the fate which this leading us about the altar ofsacrifice implied was in store for us than I did the close association,made necessary by the ceremony, with the direful stench which that vilealtar exhaled.
At the edge of the amphitheatre, where already the evil odor was almostoverpowering, the soldiers who had charge of us relinquished us--as itseemed to me, most thankfully--to a company of the temple priests;whereof the chief was a round, fat little man, whose shortness of legsvery obviously was accompanied by a corresponding shortness of wind. Hewas, in truth, a most hopelessly undignified little personage; yet hedid his best to assume a look of dignity as he waddled down the steps inadvance of us, and he manfully endeavored to conceal the difficultiesencountered by his short fat legs in the course of this descent. And Iwas glad enough that we had his absurd performances to distract ourminds a little from the dismalness of our surroundings, and especiallyfrom the queasiness that again beset our stomachs as our noses wereassailed more and more violently by that most evil smell. The priests, Iobserved, had cotton stuffed in their nostrils; but for us there wasnothing for it but to hold our noses tightly with our hands.
El Sabio, who had a most generous and broadly open nose, and who was notblest with hands to hold it fast with, grew restive as the first whiffstruck him; which resulted less, I suppose, from the intrinsic vilenessof the smell than from the fact that he, in common with all peace-lovinganimals, had aroused in him an instinctive terror by the odor of blood.Pablo's voice, and Pablo's touch, possibly might have soothed andquieted him; but the efforts which the priests who were leading him madeto restrain him only served the more to terrify him, and so to increasehis violence. And the priests, who now for a considerable time had seenhim daily, and had known him only as the most gentle and biddable ofcreatures, were mightily astonished, and evidently were terrified, bythis sudden outbreak of a fierce temper that most reasonably took thementirely by surprise. Partly by pulling at the rope that they had abouthis neck, and partly by such pushes as they dared to give him while hewas momentarily at rest, they succeeded in forcing him down the steps;and so at last into the large circular space at the bottom of theamphitheatre, in the midst of which stood the stone of sacrifice andwhere the smell of blood was overpoweringly strong. But by the time thatthis victory was won El Sabio had ceased to be a quiet orderly donkey,accustomed to conform to the usages of human society, and had become averitable crazy creature, inflamed by the madness of fear and rage.
EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE]
By some miracle--a very happy miracle for those whom the poor ass mostnaturally regarded as his tormentors--El Sabio's nimble heels had untilthis moment lashed the air harmlessly; but just as the last stepdownward was accomplished he let out both of his hind-legs together, andwith such precision that both of his hoofs struck a remarkably tallpriest who had taken a very active part in persecuting him. The blow waslanded fairly on the tall priest's stomach, and instantly the two longhalves of that priest shut together like a jack-knife, and he fell tothe ground with a gasp that told how thoroughly the wind was knocked outof him. Doubtless this outburst of violence served but to increase ElSabio's terror, for he straightway gave so strong a plunge that hefairly broke away from the men who were holding him; and then he bentall his energies to working such destruction as never was worked by onesingle ass since the very beginning of the world!
Fortunately for our own safety--for El Sabio was in no condition todiscriminate between friends and foes--we still were at some distancefrom the bottom of the amphitheatre when this outbreak occurred; thegreater part of the priests having preceded us, and El Sabio having beenled in the van of the prisoners. It was wholly upon the priests,therefore, that his mad rage was expended, and the way that he "got inhis work," as Young expressed it, on these enemies of his and ours was ajoyful wonder to behold. Being closely penned in--for the way whencethey had entered the amphitheatre was barred by the crowd of which wewere a part, and the entrance to the subterranean passage leading to thetemple was closed--the priests had no chance to escape from the furiouscreature save by clambering up the smooth wall, fully eight feet high,by which was enclosed the circular space that immediately surrounded thealtar. Even an agile man, going at it quietly, would have found a littledifficulty in executing this gymnastic feat, that required for itsaccomplishment sheer lifting of the body until a leg could be thrownover the top of the wall; and as these priests, for the most part, hadgrown fat and sluggish in their sacred calling, they were wellnighincapacitated from performing it. Furthermore, El Sabio manifested whathad the appearance of being a most diabolical ingenuity--yet that, nodoubt, was no more than chance--in delivering flying kicks against thelegs of these dangling creatures; wherefrom such keen pain resulted thatthey instantly let loose their hold, and came tumbling to the ground.
So far as we were concerned--our sympathies being wholly on the side ofthe ass--this astonishing spectacle remained a broad farce until thevery end; but it presently became to the men engaged in it a veryserious tragedy. As he made his wild charges, El Sabio galloped backwardand forward again and again over the bodies of his prostrate enemies; inthe course of which gallopings his sharp little hoofs cut their nakedflesh savagely, and now and then, when he happened to land a kick fairlyagainst a man's body, we could see, from the sinking in of the fellow'sribs and the gush of blood that burst from his nostrils, that the asshad delivered a death-blow.
As for the noise that attended this most extraordinary performance,words can but faintly describe it. From the men directly engaged with ElSabio came yells of fear and shouts for assistance and cries of anger,beneath all of which was a
dull undertone of groans; the crowd around usand higher up behind us gave vent to a shrill roar of shouts and yellsthat seemed to be partly in the nature of advice, and partly the resultof that instinct which prompts all barbarians to yell whenever anybodyelse yells, on general principles. Pablo interpolated a most despairingnote in the way of beseeching cries of "B-u-r-r-r-o! B-u-r-r-r-o!"whereby he sought to allay El Sabio's frenzy, and so to save him fromthe direful fate that well might be expected to overtake him inrecompense of his direful deeds; and Young fairly tossed his batteredDerby hat up into the air as he shouted: "Go it, El Sabio! Give it to'em, my boy! Ten t' one against th' fat priest! Three cheers for th'jackass! Hip-hip-hurrah!" In short, it seemed as though Bedlam hadbroken loose among us, and as though all of us together were going mad.
What with dodging behind his fellows, and keeping clear of El Sabio'sfrantic charges by the display of an agility that I would not have givenhim credit for, the little fat priest managed to preserve his smallround body unharmed until all of his companions had either escaped overthe wall or had been, as Young put it, knocked out by El Sabio's heels.Once or twice he had made a dash for the passage-way in which we werestanding, but the lower end of this was choked with the dozen or morebadly wounded wretches who had crawled thither in their efforts toescape; and these the priests in front of us, being but cowardlycreatures, had made no effort to succor or to lift away, for the reasonthat so long as this barrier remained they themselves were safe from ElSabio's fury.
Having, therefore, no longer any one to hide behind, the fat littlepriest evidently realized that his only hope of salvation lay in makingan effort, truly heroic in one of his height and girth and wofulshortness of wind, to clamber up the face of the wall; and to thiswellnigh impossible task he most resolutely set himself. It was only byjumping that he was able to get a grip over the top of the wall; yetwhen this grip was gained he could get no farther on his way todeliverance, and so he hung dangling there, his face to the wall,jerking his short fat legs about spasmodically, and wasting in mostpiercing yells what little there was in him of wind.
It did really seem as though El Sabio's action in these premises wasdictated by reason, for when he saw the priest in this whollyunprotected position he deliberately took his stand at precisely thepoint behind the little man where all of his kicking power could be mosteffectively used. There was a momentary hush as El Sabio thus placedhimself, for every one perceived how very open was the priest toassault; and at the same time it was apparent that while El Sabio'skicks assuredly would be exceedingly painful, they were not likely toinflict upon the priest, while he remained in that attitude, a deadlywound. In an instant the two small heels flashed through the air, andthere was heard a dull, soft sound--such as might come from the strikingof an over-ripe melon with a heavy club--and with this burst forth amost piercing shriek of pain. Yet the little priest, knowing that hislife depended upon it, most gallantly retained his hold. Again El Sabiokicked, and again a piercing shriek sounded; and one hand loosened for amoment and then clutched fast again. But when El Sabio kicked for thethird time human nature was too weak to resist further against bruteviolence. With a yell that fairly cracked our ears the priest let gohis hold and fell downward and backward; and at that same instant ElSabio delivered a final kick that struck fairly on the head of thefalling man and battered in his skull.
As for El Sabio, it seemed as though he himself were like to die in thevery moment of his victory; for with a sort of groan that, coming from abrute beast, was most pitiful to listen to, the poor terrified creature,utterly exhausted by his fright and his outlay of energy in furiousviolence, sank down panting by the side of the man whom he had slain.
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