by V. V. Vide
CHAPTER VII.
TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION--MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC NOBILITY--DEATH OF MONTEZUMA.
~And bloody treason triumphed.~
* * * * *
~Feeling dies not by the knife; That cuts at once and kills; its tortured strife Is with distilled affliction, drop by drop Oozing its bitterness. Our world is rife With grief and sorrow; all that we would prop, Or would be propped with, falls; where shall the ruin stop?~
Passing lightly over some of the subsequent incidents of this stirringperiod, we must hasten to the catastrophe of our long drawn tale.
Secure in the possession of his royal prisoner, Cortez now thought hemight safely leave the capital, for a while, and respond to a demandwhich pressed urgently upon him, to relieve his little colony at VeraCruz, threatened with destruction, not by the natives, but a new band ofadventurers from Spain, who had come to dispute the spoils with theconquerors. Leaving one of his principal officers in command, with apart of the forces, he placed himself at the head of the remainder, andmarched quietly off on his new expedition.
Alvarado was a brave knight, but of a rash and headlong disposition, andutterly destitute of that cool prudence and far-seeing sagacity whichwas requisite for so important a station. He soon involved himself in amost wicked and unjust quarrel with the Aztecs, which had well nighoverwhelmed him and his diminished band in utter ruin.
Not long after the departure of Cortez, one of the great nationalfestivals of the Aztecs occurred, at which the flower of the nobility,not of Tenochtitlan alone, but of all the neighboring cities and towns,were present. They came only to the peaceful performance of the wontedrites of their religion, and consequently came unarmed. Their numberswere very great. They were all apparelled in the richest costume oftheir country. Their snow white vestments, their splendid mantles offeather-work, powdered all over with jewels; their sandals of gold orsilver, and their gaudy head-dresses of many-colored plumes, made animposing and magnificent display, as they moved in solemn procession, tothe simple music of their shells and horns, towards the court yard ofthe great Teocalli, where the festival was to be celebrated. The immensearea was thronged with the gay multitude of worshippers, who,unsuspicious of treachery, gave themselves up to the wild dances and allthe customary evolutions of Indian festivity. In the midst of theirsolemn sports, Alvarado, with his band of armed followers, rushed in,like so many tigers let loose upon their prey, and put them to anindiscriminate slaughter. Scarce one of that gay company escaped theruthless massacre. The holy place was drenched with the best blood ofAnahuac, and mourning, desolation, and wo were carried into all theprincipal families in the land.
It was a fearful stroke, and fearfully was it repaid upon the heads ofthe guilty murderers. On every side the cry of vengeance arose, and itshoarse murmurs came rolling in upon the capital, like the distanthowlings of a gathering tempest. Myriads of outraged Aztecs, smartingand chafing under their wounds, and thirsting for a worthy revenge,thronged the avenues to the capital, and demanded the treacherousstrangers to be offered in sacrifice to their offended gods. Guatimozin,and many other brave, powerful, fearless chiefs were there, eager toseize the opportunity to chastise the insolent intruder. Day after day,they stormed the quarters of the beleaguered foe, pouring in upon themvollies of arrows, darts and stones, that sorely discomfited, though itcould not dislodge them. Every assailable point was so well guarded bythose terrible engines of destruction, the fire-belching artillery, thatthe assailants, numerous as they were, and spurred on by an ungovernablerage, could make but little impression upon them. Nevertheless, theywould inevitably have carried the defences, and swept away the littleband of ruthless murderers, had not Montezuma interposed, and besoughtthem, for his sake, to desist from their hostile attacks. From regard tohis safety, they suspended their active operations, but did notrelinquish their settled purpose of vengeance.
One means of annoyance was left to them, which would soon have reducedthe fortress to submission, had not an unexpected succor arrived. Allsupplies were cut off from the camp,--already famine began to starethem in the face, and relax the iron sinew and with it the iron will, ofthe haughty Castilian. They were beginning to be reduced to extremities.A few days more, and the undefended garrison would have fallen into thehands of those merciless avengers of blood, who would have doomed everyindividual to the sacrifice.
At this critical juncture, the all powerful, invincible Cortez returned,his forces greatly increased by the accession of the very band that hadbeen sent against him--Narvaez, who had been commissioned to displacehim, having become his friend, and arrayed himself, with his wholecompany and munitions of war, under his banner. Hearing of thedisastrous position of his friends in the capital, he hastened withrapid strides and forced marches to their relief. His progress wasunimpeded by any hostilities on the part of Aztecs, or their allies,till he entered the city, and joined his forces with those of Alvaradoin the beleaguered citadel. It seems to have been the purpose of thechiefs to permit a free ingress of the entire force of the enemy,preferring rather to shut them up to famine there, than to meet them inthe open field.
No sooner was the General, with his augmented army, enclosed within thewalls of the fortress, than active and fearful demonstrations of theroused and unappeasable spirit of the people began to be made. Thestreets and lanes of the city, which were silent and deserted as hepassed through them to his quarters, began to swarm with innumerablemultitudes of warriors, as if the stones, and the very dust of theearth, were suddenly transformed into armed men. The flat roofs oftheir temples and dwellings were covered on every side with fierce wildfigures, frantic with rage, who taunted the Spaniards with their crueltreachery, and threatened them, in the most violent language, with aterrible revenge. "You are now again in our power," they cried, "and youcannot escape. Shut up in your narrow quarters, you are doomed to thelingering tortures of famine, and wo to the traitorous Aztec, thatfurnishes a morsel to relieve your hunger. When, at length, thefaintness of death overtakes you, and you can no longer offer resistanceto our arms, we will again spread the tables in your prison-house, andfatten you for the sacrifice."
No longer restrained by their reverence for Montezuma, whosepusillanimity had been the cause of all his and their troubles, theyrecommenced their active operations, and stormed the defences with anenergy and perseverance that was truly appalling. Day after day theydeluged the place with arrows and missiles of every kind, which fell inpitiless showers upon the heads of the besieged, till scarcely one wasleft without some wound or bruise. In vain did they apply, as before, totheir royal prisoner, to appease the rage of his subjects, and inducethem once more to send them the customary supplies. In moody silence heshut himself up in his room, brooding over the ingratitude and treacheryof Cortez, and the injuries and insults he had received at his hand.
Exasperated by this sudden reversal of his schemes of conquest, andmaddened by the sense of hunger which began to be severely felt in hiscamp, Cortez resolved to strike terror into the ranks of the besiegers,by a vigorous sortie at the head of all his cavalry. First sweeping theavenue by a well directed fire from his heavy guns, which were plantedat the main entrance of the fortress, he rushed out, with all his steelclad cavaliers, trampling the unprotected assailants under the ironhoofs of the horses, and dealing death on every side. The mighty massgave way before the terrific charge of the advancing column, butimmediately closed in upon its rear as it passed, till it was completelyswallowed up in an interminable sea of fierce and angry foes, whoseaccumulating waves swept in from every avenue, and threatened to sweepthem all away, in despite of the fury and power of their dreadedchargers. Convinced of his danger, the intrepid Castilian wheeled hishorse about, and with a furious shout, called on his brave band to breaka way through the serried ranks of the enemy. Plunging, rearing andleaping, under the double spur of the rider, and the piercing shafts ofhis foe, the fiery animals broke in upon the living wall that impededt
heir way, and rushed fiercely on, trampling down hundreds in theirpath, till they regained the open avenue, that was defended by their ownartillery. It was not without serious loss, however, that this retreatwas achieved. The fierce Aztecs threw themselves upon the horses, in thecrowd, hanging upon their legs, sometimes inflicting serious wounds uponthem, and sometimes grappling with their riders, dragging them fromtheir saddles, and carrying off to captivity or sacrifice. At the sametime, they were sorely beset by showers of stones and darts that pouredupon their heads from every building as they passed, battering andbreaking their armor, and terribly bruising both the horse and hisrider.
These sorties were several times repeated, but always with the samedoubtful success. The loss of the Spaniards was always much less thanthat of their enemy. But the latter could better afford to lose athousand, than the former to lose one. Their ranks were instantlyreplenished with fresh combatants, who crowded in upon the scene ofconflict, like the countless thousands of the over-peopled North, thatswarmed upon the fair fields of Italy, as if some used-up world had beensuddenly emptied of its inhabitants. Their numbers seemed rather toincrease than to diminish with every new onset. In the same proportiontheir fierce resolution increased.
The haughty Spaniard was now convinced that he had wholly mistaken thecharacter of the people, whom he had thought to trample down at hispleasure. A spirit was raised which could not be laid, either bypersuasion or by force. He saw and felt his danger, without the power toavert it. At length, either by threats or entreaties, or both, heprevailed on the captive Montezuma once more to interpose in his behalf,by employing what authority remained to him against his own best friendsand faithful subjects.
The Aztecs, forsaken of their monarch, had bold and talented leaders,who were competent both to devise and to execute the measures deemednecessary for the public good, and to lead on their marshalled hosts, tobattle and to victory. Cacama, the young Prince of Tezcuco, burning toretrieve his fatal error in counselling and aiding the friendlyreception of the Spaniards, now joined all his resources with those ofCuitlahua and Guatimozin, in endeavoring to recover the ground they hadlost. Their first object was, to rescue the Emperor from his ingloriousimprisonment, never doubting that, with his sacred person at their head,they would be able to annihilate the treacherous intruders at a blow.
Not far from the city of Tezcuco, and standing out on the bosom of thelake, several hundred yards from the shore, was a solitary castle of aheavy and sombre architecture, built upon piles, at such an elevation asto be above the influence of any extraordinary swell in the waters ofthe lake. Consequently, when at its ordinary level, boats could passfreely under. At this place the princes were accustomed to meet forprivate deliberation.
Cortez was informed of these meetings, and knew too well the effect ofthe counsels there matured, not to wish them broken up. With a boldnessof design peculiar to himself, he resolved to make Montezuma theinstrument of their destruction. He represented to that monarch thedanger to his own interests, of allowing such a junto of able andambitious men to assume the guidance of the public affairs, andundertake to direct the movements of the people. "What can they domore," he craftily exclaimed, "but assume the reins of government, underthe specious pretence, which they now falsely set up, that their king isdeprived of his freedom to act, and therefore no longer a king. If, now,you would save your sceptre and your crown, assert at once your imperialprerogative--show them you have still the power to speak and toact--command them, on pain of your royal displeasure, to lay down theirarms, desist from their treasonable assemblages, and repair at once toyour court, to answer for their unloyal designs."
Misled by false representations of the facts, and deceived by thespecious arguments of the Spaniard, Montezuma despatched a message tothe lord of Tezcuco, under the great seal of the empire, which it washigh treason to disregard, commanding him instantly to appear before hismaster, to answer for his irregular and ill-advised proceedings. Cacamawas too well aware of the real position of Montezuma, and of theconstraint under which he acted, to give any heed to his mandate.
"Tell my royal master," he replied, "that I am too much his friend toobey him in this instance. Let him banish the false-hearted Spaniardsfrom his capital, the vipers whom he has taken to his bosom--let himascend once more his imperial throne, not as a vassal, but as therightful lord of all these realms, and Cacama will joyfully lay hiscrown, his life, his all, at his feet. Montezuma is my master when he ismaster of himself. To that dignity we intend to restore him, or perishin the attempt."
On the evening of the fourth day after the return of the royalmessenger, with this spirited reply of Cacama, a light pirogue, guidedby a single hand, its sole occupant, might have been seen glidingsilently over the Lake to the water-palace, the chosen rendezvous of thepatriot princes. By the proud and majestic bearing of the boatman, itcould be no other than Guatimozin. Securing his skiff by a cord passedthrough the fingers of a gigantic hand, curiously carved from thejutting rafters on which the floor of the palace was laid, he ascendedthe steps to the hall, which he found unoccupied and still. He waspresently joined by Cuitlahua and Cacama, arriving from differentdirections, in the same stealthy manner. Their number was soon increasedby the arrival of four Tezcucan lords, from whom some importantcommunications were expected. Scarcely had they entered the hall, andseated themselves, when, a slight noise from without attracting hisattention, Guatimozin rose, and went towards the door, to ascertain thecause.
"It is only the chafing of our pirogues against the piles," said one ofthe new comers--"let us proceed to business."
Guatimozin, true to his own impulses, heeded not the remark. Steppingupon the outer battlement, he discerned a slight figure in a canoe,moving in the shadow of the building, and apparently seekingconcealment. Supposing it might be a servant, left by the Tezcucans incharge of their boats, he was about returning, when a gentle voicewhispered his name.
"Who calls Guatimozin?" he replied in a whisper, at the same timeleaning towards the intruder.
"Beware of the Tezcucans, beware." The voice was Karee's, but the skiffshot away, like an arrow, before the Prince had time for further parley.
Returning to the council, he instantly demanded, as if nothing hadhappened, that the plans of the evening should be laid open.
A pictured scroll was then produced by the Tezcucans, representing thecontemplated movements of the enemy, which they professed to haveascertained from authentic sources, and delineating a plan of operationsagainst them. Guatimozin, somewhat bewildered by the warning he hadreceived, sat down with his friends to the examination of this scroll.But, while seemingly intent upon that alone, he contrived to keep aclose watch upon the movements of the Tezcucans. It was soon evidentthat their thoughts were not wholly engrossed by the business beforethem. A slight noise from without, followed instantly by an exchange ofsignificant looks between two of the party, confirmed his suspicions.Instantly dashing away the false scroll, and springing to his feet, heboldly charged the traitors with a conspiracy; and demanded an immediateexplanation. Alarmed at this mysterious and premature disclosure oftheir designs, the chief of the party, without venturing a word ofreply, gave a shrill, piercing whistle, which was immediately respondedto from without. Finding himself entrapped, and not knowing what numbershe might have to contend with, Guatimozin sprang to the door, stretchingone of the conspirators on the floor as he passed, and succeeded inreaching his skiff, just as a band of armed men rushed in from the otherquarter. Cuitlahua also effected his escape, though not without adesperate encounter with one of the advancing party, who attempted toarrest his flight.
To seize his antagonist with a powerful embrace, to fling him over theparapet into the water, and to plunge in after him, was the work of aninstant. Swimming under water for some distance, and rising to thesurface within the shadow of the building, he took possession of thenearest canoe, and, following in the wake of Guatimozin, was soon outof the reach of danger, or pursuit.
Cacama, unsuspicious of
danger, and intent only on the object of theirmeeting, was so engrossed with the scroll, and the plans delineated uponit, that he did not fully comprehend the meaning of this suddeninterruption of their council, until his two friends had disappeared,and, in their place, a band of twenty armed men stood before him.Resistance was vain. By order of the chief of the conspirators, he wasseized, securely bound, and carried a prisoner to Tenochtitlan. There,though treated with indignity by Cortez, and with severity by Montezuma,he maintained a haughty and independent bearing, sternly refusing toyield, in the slightest degree, to the insolent dictation of the one, orthe pusillanimous policy of the other. Cuitlahua was afterwards seizedin his own palace of Iztapalapan; but, after a short detention, wasreleased again, at the instigation of Montezuma.
These outrages, so far from intimidating the people, only excited andincensed them the more, and led to other and more desperate assaultsupon the beleaguered foe, till Cortez, apprehensive of ultimate defeatand ruin, applied once more to Montezuma, proposing that he shouldappear in person before his people, and require them to lay down theirarms, retire to their homes, and leave his guests in peaceablepossession of the quarters he had voluntarily assigned them.
Arrayed in his royal robes, with the imperial diadem upon his head,preceded by his officers of state, bearing the golden wands, the emblemof despotic power, and accompanied by a considerable train of his ownnobles, and some of the principal Castilian cavaliers, the unfortunatemonarch appeared on the battlements, to remonstrate with his own peoplefor their zeal in the defence of his crown and honor, and appease therage of his subjects for insults offered to his own person, and to thoseof his loyal nobles. His presence was instantly recognized by thethronging multitudes below and around. Some prostrated themselves on theearth in profound reverence, some bent the knee, and all waited inbreathless silence to hear that voice, which had so long ruled them withdespotic sway.
With a sad, but at the same time a calm and dignified tone, the monarchaddressed them, "My children," said he, "why are you here in this fiercearray. The strangers are my friends. I abide with them as theirvoluntary guest, and all that you do against them is done against me,your sovereign and father."
When the monarch declared himself the friend of the detested Spaniard, amurmur of discontent and rage arose, and ran through the assembled host.Their ungovernable fury burst at once the barrier of loyalty, and venteditself in curses upon the king who could, in the hour of their peril,thus basely forsake his people, and endeavor to betray them into thehands of a treacherous and blood thirsty foe. "Base Aztec!" they cried,"woman! coward! go back to the viper friends whom you have taken to yourbosom. No longer worthy to reign over us, we cast away our allegiancefor ever." At the same moment, some powerful arm, more fearless than therest, aimed a huge stone at the unprotected head of the king, whichbrought him senseless to the ground. His attendants, put off theirguard by the previous calm and reverential attention of the crowd, weretaken by surprise. In vain they interposed their shields and bucklers,to protect his person from further violence. The fatal blow was struck.The great Montezuma had received his death-wound from the hand of one ofhis own subjects, who, but a moment before, would have sacrificed ahundred lives, had he possessed them, to shield the person of hismonarch from violence and dishonor.
The effect of this unexpected catastrophe seemed equally appalling toboth the belligerent parties. The Aztecs, struck aghast at their ownsacrilegious deed, dispersed in sorrow and shame to their homes; whilethe Spaniards felt that they had lost their only remaining hold upon theforbearance and regard of a mighty people, whose confidence they hadshamefully abused, and whose altars and houses they had wantonlydesecrated. It was a season of agonizing suspense. To retreat from theirpost, and abandon the conquest which they once imagined was nearlyachieved, might be as disastrous as it would be humiliating. To remainin their narrow quarters, surrounded with countless thousands ofexasperated foes, on whom they must be dependent for their dailysupplies of food, seemed little better than madness. To the proud spiritof the haughty Castilian, the alternative was scarcely less to bedreaded than martyrdom. It was manifestly, however, the only resource,and he resolved to evacuate the city.
Meanwhile, active hostilities had been temporarily suspended. Theunhappy Montezuma, smitten even more severely in heart than in person,refused alike the condolence of his friends and the skill of theCastilian surgeon. Tearing off the bandages from his wounds, "leave mealone," he cried, "I have already outlived my honor and the affectionand confidence of my people. Why should I look again upon the sun or theearth. The one has no light, the other no flowers for me. Let me diehere. I feel indeed that the gods have smitten me, when I fall by thehand of one of my own people."
In this disconsolate mood, the spirit of Montezuma took its flight. Invain did the Castilian general endeavor to suppress, for a time, thetidings of his death. The loud wailing of his attendants, would havepublished it far and wide among the thousands of affectionate hearts,that listened for every sound that issued from the palace, if they hadnot, unknown to the Spaniards, established a kind of telegraphic signal,by means of which they communicated to the priests on the greatTeocalli, daily reports of the progress of his disease. When the sadsignal was given, announcing the solemn fact, that the great Montezumahad laid down his honors and his troubles together, it was responded toby the mournful tones of the great drum of the temple, by ten measuredmuffled strokes, conveying the melancholy intelligence to every dwellingin Tenochtitlan.
The breathing of that populous city was now one universal wail, thatseemed to penetrate the very heavens. Partly from a sincere regard forthe fallen monarch, and partly from the hope that he might thusconciliate the good will of his afflicted subjects, Cortez directed hisremains to be placed in a splendid coffin, and borne in solemnprocession, by his own nobles, to his palace, that it might be interredwith the customary regal honors. It was received by his people withevery demonstration of affectionate joy and respect. Conveyed with greatpomp to the castle of Chapoltepec, followed by an immense train ofpriests, nobles, and common people, it was interred amid all theimposing ceremonies of the Aztec religion. His wives and children,frantic with grief, gathered around those hallowed remains, andtestified, by all those tender and delicate tokens which seem thenatural expression of a refined feminine sorrow, their profound sense ofthe inestimable loss they had sustained.
By one of those singular coincidences, which tend so strongly to confirmthe too easy credulity of the superstitious, and give an unnaturalemphasis to the common accidents of life, it was the festival of the newmoon, the very day on which Montezuma had promised Tecuichpo that hewould join the household circle at Chapoltepec, that his lifelessremains were borne thither, in the solemn funereal procession.
"Alas! my father," she cried, "is this the fulfilment of that onlypromise which sustained my sinking courage in the hour of separation?"She said no more. The more profound the sorrow, the fewer words it hasto spare. "The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb."