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Title: The Aztec Treasure-House
Author: Janvier, Thomas Allibone
Language: English
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THE AZTEC TREASURE-HOUSE
By Thomas Allibone Janvier
Copyright, 1890, by Harper & Brothers.
_All rights reserved._
TO C. A. J.
Departimiento y ha entre los engaños. Catales y ha que son buenos,
e tales que malos, e buenos son aquellos que los omnes fazen a
buena fe e a buena intencion.--ALONZO el SABIO, Setena Partida,
Titulo xvi., Ley ii.
[Illustration: The Dying Cacique.]
CONTENTS.
PROLOGUE
I. FRAY ANTONIO
II. THE CACIQUE'S SECRET
III. THE MONK'S MANUSCRIPT
IV. MONTEZUMA'S MESSENGER
V. THE ENGINEER AND THE LOST-FREIGHT MAN
VI. THE KING'S SYMBOL
VII. THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON
VIII. AFTER THE FIGHT
IX. THE CAVE OF THE DEAD
X. THE SWINGING STATUE
XI. THE SUBMERGED CITY
XII. IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH
XIII. UP THE CHAC-MOOL STAIR
XIV. THE HANGING CHAIN
XV. THE TEMPLE IN THE CLOUDS
XVI. AT THE BARRED PASS
XVII. OF OUR COMING INTO THE VALLY OF AZTLAN
XVIII. THE STRIKING OF A MATCH
XIX. THE SEEDS OF REVOLT
XX. THE PRIEST CAPTAIN'S SUMMONS
XXI. THE WALLED CITY OF CULHUACON
XXII. THE OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION
XXIII. A RESCUE
XXIV. THE AFFAIR AT THE WATER-GATE
XXV. THE GOLD-MINERS OF HUITZILAN
XXVI. THE GATHERING FOR WAR
XXVII. AN OFFER OF TERMS
XXVIII. THE SURRENDER OF A LIFE
XXIX. THE ASSAULT IN THE NIGHT
XXX. THE FALL OF THE CITADEL
XXXI. DEFEAT
XXXII. EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE
XXXIII. IN THE AZTEC TREASURE-HOUSE
XXXIV. A MARTYRDOM
XXXV. THE TREASURE-CHAMBER
XXXVI. THE VENGEANCE OF THE GODS
XXXVII. THROUGH DARKNESS TO LIGHT
XXXVIII. KING CHALTZANTZIN'S TREASURE
EPILOGUE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE DYING CACIQUE
THE LETTER FROM THE DEAD
PACKING IN THE CORRAL
THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON
THE CAVE OF THE DEAD
AFLOAT ON THE LAKE
EL SABIO'S PREDICAMENT
MAKING THE PEACE-SIGN
THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY
THE STRIKING OF A MATCH
CHECKING YOUNG'S OUTBREAK
THE LEAP FROM ABOVE THE WATER-GATE
THE TLAHUICOS AND THEIR GUARDS
IN THE GATE-WAY OF THE CITADEL
THE LAST RALLY
EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE
FRAY ANTONIO'S APPEAL
YOUNG'S STRUGGLE WITH THE PRIEST CAPTAIN
IN THE LIBRARY BEFORE THE OPEN FIRE
_Who'd hear great marvels told--
Come listen now!
Who longs for hidden gold--
Come listen now!
Who joys in well-fought fights,
Who yearns for wondrous sights,
Who pants for strange delights--
Come listen now!_
_For here are marvels told
To listen to!
Here tales of hidden gold
To listen to!
Here gallant men wage fights,
Here pass most wondrous sights,
Here's that which ear delights
To listen to!_
THE AZTEC TREASURE-HOUSE
PROLOGUE.
"God sends nuts to them who have no teeth:" which ancient Spanish
proverb of contrariety comes strongly to mind as I set myself to this
writing.
By nature am I a studious, book-loving man, having a strong liking for
quiet and orderliness. Yet in me also is a strain that urges me, even
along ways which are both rough and dangerous, to get beyond
book-knowledge, and to examine for myself the abstractions of thought
and the concretions of men and things out of the consideration whereof
books are made. And I hold that it is because I have thus sought for
truth in its original sources, instead of resting content with what
passes for truth, being detached fragments of fact which other men have
found and have cut and polished to suit themselves, that I have gathered
to myself more of it, and in its rude yet perfect native crystals, than
has come into the possession of any other modern investigator. In making
which strong assertion I am not moved by idle vanity, but by a just and
reasonable conception of the intrinsic merit of my own achievement: as
will be universally admitted when I publish the great work, now almost
ready for the press, upon which, in preparatory study and in convincing
discovery, I have been for the past ten years engaged. For I speak well
within bounds when I declare that a complete revolution in all existing
conceptions of American archæology and ethnology will be wrought when
_Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent of North America_, by
Professor Thomas Palgrave, Ph.D. (Leipsic), is given to the world.
Upon this work I say that I have been engaged for ten years. Rather
should I say that I have been engaged upon it for forty years; for its
germs were implanted in me when I was a child of but six years old.
Before my intelligence at all could grasp the meaning of what I read, my
imagination was fired by reading in the pages of Stephens of the wonders
which that eminent explorer discovered in Yucatan; and my mind then was
made up that I would follow in his footsteps, and in the end go far
beyond him, until I should reveal the whole history of the marvellous
race whose mighty works he found, but of whose genesis he could only
feebly surmise. And this resolve of the child became the dominant
purpose of the man. In my college life at Harvard, and in my university
life at Leipsic, my studies were directed chiefly to this end.
Especially did I devote myself to the acquisition of languages, and to
gaining a sound knowledge of the principles of those departments of
archæology and ethnology which related to the great work that I had in
view. Later, during the ten years that I occupied (as I believe usefully
and acceptably) the Chair of Topical Linguistics in the University of
Michigan, all the time that I properly could take from my professorial
duties was given exclusively to the study of the languages of the
indigenous races of Mexico, and to what little was to be found in books
concerning their social organization and mode of life, and to the broad
subject of Mexican antiquities. By correspondence I became acquainted
with the most eminent Mexican archæologists--the lamented Orozco y
Berra, Icazbalceta, Chavero, and the philologists Pimentel and Peñafiel;
and I had the honor to know personally the American archæologist
Bandelier, the surpassing scientific value of whose researches among the
primitive peoples of Mexico places his work above all praise. And by the
study of the writings of these great scholars, and of all writings
thereto cognate, my own knowledge steadily grew; until at last I felt
myself strong enough to begin the investigations on my own account for
which I had sought by all these years of patient preparation fittingly
to pave the way.
But inasmuch as my life until a short time since has been wholly that of
a scholar, and wholly has been passed in quiet ways, I truly have had no
teeth at all for the proper cracking of the nuts which have come to me
in the course of the surprising adventures that I have now set myself to
narrate. For in the course of these adventures (necessarily, yet sorely
against my will) I have been thrust by force of circumstances into many
imminent and prodigious perils; much time that I gladly would have
devoted to peaceful, fruitful study I have been compelled to employ in
rude and profitless (except that my life was saved by it) battling with
savages; and--what most of all has pained me--many curious and
interesting skulls that I gladly would have added entire to my
collection of crania, I have been driven in self-defence to ruin
irreparably with my own hands.
All of which diversities of my likings and my happenings will appear in
due order, as I tell in the following pages of the strange and wonderful
things which befell me--in company with Rayburn and Young and Fray
Antonio and the boy Pablo--in our search after and finding of the great
treasure that was hidden, in a curiously secret place among the Mexican
mountains more than a thousand years ago, by Chaltzantzin, the third of
the Aztec kings.
I.
FRAY ANTONIO.
My heart was light within me as I stood on the steamer's deck in the
cool gray of an October morning and saw out across the dark green sea
and the dusky, brownish stretch of coast country the snow-crowned peak
of Orizaba glinting in the first rays of the rising sun. And presently,
as the sun rose higher, all the tropic region of the coast and the brown
walls of Vera Cruz and of its outpost fort of San Juan de Ulua were
flooded with brilliant light--which sudden and glorious outburst of
radiant splendor seemed to me to be charged with a bright promise of my
own success.
And still lighter was my heart, a week later, when I found myself
established in the beautiful city of Morelia, and ready to begin
actively the work for which I had been preparing myself--at first
unconsciously, but for ten years past consciously and carefully--almost
all my life long.
Morelia, I had decided, was the best base for the operations that I was
about to undertake. My main purpose was to search for the remnants of
primitive civilization among the more isolated of the native Indian
tribes; and out of the fragments thus found, pieced together with what
more I could glean from the early ecclesiastical and civil records, to
recreate, so far as this was possible, the fabric that was destroyed by
the Spanish conquerors. Nowhere could my investigations be conducted to
better advantage than in the State of Michoacan (of which State the city
of Morelia is the capital) and in the adjacent State of Jalisco; for in
this region tribes still exist which never have been, reduced to more
than nominal subjection, and which, maintain to a great extent their
primitive customs and their primitive faith, though curiously mingling
with this latter many Christian observances. Indeed, the independence of
the Indians of these parts is so notable that the proverb "Free as
Jalisco" is current throughout Mexico. Moreover, Morelia is a city rich
in ancient records. The archives of the Franciscan province, that has
its centre here extend back to the year 1531; those of the Bishopric of
Michoacan to the year 1538; and those of the Colegio de San Nicolás to
the year 1540; while in the recently founded Museo Michoacano already
has been collected a rich store of archæological material. In a word,
there was no place in all Mexico where my studies and my investigations
could be pursued to such advantage as they could be pursued here.
From a fellow-archæologist in the City of Mexico I brought a letter of
introduction to the director of the Museo, the learned Dr. Nicolás Leon;
and so cordially was this letter worded, and so cordially was it
received, that within the day of my coming into that strange city I
found myself in the midst of friends. At once their hearts and their
houses were opened to me, and they gave me with a warm enthusiasm the
benefit of their knowledge and of their active assistance forwarding the
work that I had in hand.
In the quiet retirement of the Museo I opened to that one of its members
to whom the director especially had commended me, Don Rafael Moreno, the
purposes which I had in view, and the means by which I hoped to
accomplish them. "Surely," I said, "among the free Indians in the
mountains hereabouts much may be found--in customs, in tone of thought,
in religion--that has remained unchanged since the time of the
conquest."
Don Rafael nodded. "Fray Antonio has said as much," he observed,
thoughtfully.
"And as your own distinguished countryman, Señor Orozco y Berra, has
pointed out," I continued, "many dark places in primitive history may be
made clear, many illusions may be dispelled, and many deeply
interesting truths may be gathered by one who will go among these
Indians, lending himself to their mode of life, and will note accurately
what he thus learns from sources wholly original."
"Fray Antonio has professed the same belief," Don Rafael answered. "But
that his love is greater for the saving of heathen souls than for the
advancement of antiquarian knowledge, he long ago would have done what
you now propose to do. He has done much towards gathering a portion of
the information that you seek, even as it is."
"And who is this Fray Antonio, señor?"
"He is the man who of all men can give you the wisest help in your
present need. We see but little of him here at the Museo, though he is
one of our most honored members, for his time is devoted so wholly to
the godly work to which he has given himself that but little remains to
him to use in other ways. He is a monk, vowed to the Rule of St.
Francis. As you know, since the promulgation of the Laws of the Reform,
monks are not permitted in our country to live in communities; but, with
only a few exceptions, the conventual churches which have not be
secularized still are administered by members of the religious orders to
which they formerly belonged. Fray Antonio has the charge of the church
of San Francisco--over by the market-place, you know--and virtually is a
parish priest. He is a religious enthusiast. In God's service he gives
himself no rest. The common people here, since his loving labors are
among them while the pestilence of small-pox raged, reverently believe
him to be a saint; and those of a higher class, who know what heroic
work he did in that dreadful time, and who see how perfectly his life
conforms to the principles which he professes, and how like is the
spirit of holiness that animates him to that of the sainted men who
founded the order to which he belongs, are disposed to hold a like
opinion. Truly, it is by the especial grace of God that men like Fray
Antonio are permitted at times to dwell upon this sinful earth."
Don Rafael spoke with a depth of feeling and a reverence of tone that
gave his strong words still greater strength and deeper meaning. After
that moment's pause he resumed: "But that which is of most interest to
you, señor, is the knowledge that Fray Antonio has gained of our native
Indians during his ministrations among them. It is the dearest wish of
his heart to carry to these heathen souls the saving grace of
Christianity, and for the accomplishment of this good purpose he makes
many journeys into the mountains; ministering in the chapels which his
zeal has founded in the Indian towns, and striving earnestly by his
preaching of God's word to bring these far-wandered sheep into the
Christian fold. Very often his life has been in most imminent peril, for
the idolatrous priests of the mountain tribes hate him with a most
bitter hatred because of the inroads which his mild creed is making upon
the cruel creed which they uphold. Yet is he careless of the danger to
which he exposes himself; and there be those who believe, such is the
temerity with which he manifests his zeal, that he rather seeks than
shuns a martyr's crown."
Again Don Rafael paused, and again was it evident that deep feelings
moved him as he spoke of the holy life of this most holy man. "You will
thus understand, señor," he went on, "that Fray Antonio of all men is
best fitted by his knowledge of the ways of these mountain Indians to
advise you touching your going among them and studying them. You cannot
do better than confer with him at once. It is but a step to the church
of San Francisco. Let us go."
What Don Rafael had said had opened new horizons to me, and I was
stirred by strange feelings as we passed out together from the shady
silence of the Museo into the bright silence of the streets: for Morelia
is a quiet city, wherein at all times is gentleness and rest. For
priests in general, and for Mexican priests in particular, I had
entertained always a profound contempt; but now, from an impartial
source, I had heard of a Mexican priest whose life-springs seemed to be
the soul-stirring impulses of the thirteenth century; who was devoted in
soul and in body to the service of God and of his fellow-men; in whom,
in a word, the seraphic spirit of St. Francis of Assisi seemed to live
again. But by this way coming to such tangible evidence of the survival
in the present time of forces which were born into the world six hundred
years ago, my thoughts took a natural turn to my own especial interests;
and, by perhaps not over-strong analogy, I reasoned that if this monk
still lived so closely to the letter and to the spirit of the Rule that
St. Francis, six centuries back, gave to his order, most reasonably
might I hope to find still quick something of the life that was in full
vigor in Mexico only a little more than half that many centuries ago.
We turned off from the Calle Principal by the little old church of La
Cruz, and passed onward across the market-place, where buying and
selling went on languidly, and where a drowsy hum of talk made a
rhythmic setting to a scene that seemed to my unaccustomed eyes less a
bit of real life than a bit lifted bodily from an opera. Facing the
market-place was the ancient church; and the change was a pleasant one,
from the vivid sunlight and warmth of the streets to its cool, shadowy
interior: where the only sign of life was a single old woman, her head
muffled in her _rebozo_, praying her way along the Stations of the
Cross. For more than two hundred and fifty years had prayer been made
and praise been offered here; and as I thought of the many generations
who here had ministered and worshipped--though evil hearts in plenty, no
doubt, both within and without the chancel there had been--it seemed to
me that some portion of the subtle essence of all the soul-longings for
heavenly help and guidance that here had been breathed forth, by men and
women truly struggling against the sinful forces at work in the world,
had entered into the very fabric of that ancient church, and so had
sanctified it.
We crossed to the eastern end of the church, where was a low door-way,
closed by a heavy wooden door that was studded with rough iron nails and
ornamented with rudely finished iron-work; pushing which door open
briskly, as one having the assured right of entry there, Don Rafael
courteously stood aside and motioned to me to enter the sacristy.
From the shadowy church I passed at a step into a small vaulted room
brilliant with the sunlight that poured into it through a broad window
that faced the south. Just where this flood of sunshine fell upon the
flagged floor, rising from a base of stone steps built up in a pyramidal
form, was a large cross of some dark wood, on which was the life-size
figure of the crucified Christ; and there, on the bare stone pavement
before this emblem of his faith, his face, on which the sunlight fell
full, turned upward towards the holy image, and his arms raised in
supplication, clad in his Franciscan habit, of which the hood had fallen
back, knelt Fray Antonio; and upon his pale, holy face, that the rich
sunlight glorified, was an expression so seraphic, so entranced, that it
seemed as though to his fervent gaze the very gates of heaven must be
open, and all the splendors and glories and majesties of paradise
revealed.
It is as I thus first saw Fray Antonio--verily a saint kneeling before
the cross--that I strive to think of him always. Yet even when that
other and darker, but surely more glorious, picture of him rises before
my mind I am not disconsolate; for at such times the thought possesses
me--coming to me clearly and vehemently, as though from a strongly
impelled force without myself--that what he prayed for at the moment
when I beheld him was that which God granted to him in the end.
Some men being thus broken in upon while in the very act of communing
with Heaven would have been distressed and ill at ease--as I assuredly
was because I had so interrupted him. But to Fray Antonio, as I truly
believe, communion with Heaven was so entirely a part of his daily life
that our sudden entry in nowise ruffled him. After a moment, that he
might recall his thoughts within himself and so to earth again, he arose
from his knees, and with a grave, simple grace came forward to greet us.
He was not more than eight-and-twenty years old, and he was slightly
built and thin--not emaciated, but lean with the wholesome leanness of
one who strove to keep his body in the careful order of a machine of
which much work was required. His face still had in it the soft
roundness and tenderness of youth, that accorded well with its
expression of gracious sweetness; but there was a firmness about the
fine, strong chin, and in the set of the delicate lips, that showed a
reserve of masterful strength. And most of all did this strength shine
forth from his eyes; which, truly, though at this first sight of him I
did not perceive it fully, were the most wonderful eyes that ever I have
seen. As I then beheld them I thought them black; but they really were a
dark blue, and so were in keeping with his fair skin and hair. Yet that
which gave them so strong an individuality was less their changing color
than the marvellous way in which their expression changed with every
change of feeling of the soul that animated them. When I first saw them,
turned up towards heaven, they seemed to speak a heavenly language full
of love; and when I saw them last, stern, but shining with the exultant
light of joy triumphant, they fairly hurled the wrath of outraged Heaven
against the conquered powers of hell. And I can give no adequate
conception of the love that shone forth from them when pitying sympathy
for human sorrow, or even for the pain which brute beasts suffered,
touched that most tender heart for which they spoke in tones richer and
fuller than the tones of words.
Don Rafael, standing without the door that he had opened in order that I
might precede him, did not perceive that we had interrupted Fray Antonio
in his prayers; and began, therefore, in the lively manner natural to
him, when I had been in due form presented as an American archæologist
come to Mexico to pursue my studies of its primitive inhabitants, to
commend the undertaking that I had in hand, and to ask of Fray Antonio
the aid in prosecuting it that he so well could give.
Perhaps it was that Fray Antonio understood how wholly my heart already
had gone out to him--assuredly, later, there was such close sympathy
between us that our thoughts would go and come to each other without
need for words--and so was disposed in some instinctive way to join his
purposes with mine; but, be this as it may, before Don Rafael well could
finish the explanation of my wishes, Fray Antonio had comprehended what
I desired, and had promised to give me his aid.
"The señor already has a book-knowledge of our native tongues. That is
well. The speaking knowledge will come easily. He shall have the boy
Pablo for his servant. A good boy is Pablo. With him he can talk in the
Nahua dialect--which is the most important, for it is sprung most
directly from the ancient stock. And I will arrange that the señor shall
live for a time in the mountains--it will be a hard life, I fear--at
Santa María and at San Andrés, in which villages he can gain a
mouth-mastery of both Otomí and Tarascan. A little time must be given to
all this--some months, no doubt. But the señor, who already has studied
through ten years, will understand the needfulness of this short
discipline. To a true student study in itself is a delight--still more
that study which makes the realization of a long-cherished purpose
possible. The señor, I know, reads Spanish, since so perfectly he speaks
it"--this with a gracious movement of the hands and a courteous
inclination of the body that enhanced the value of the compliment--"but
does the señor read with ease our ancient Spanish script?"
"I have never attempted it," I answered. "But as I can read easily the
old printed Spanish, I suppose," I added, a little airily, "that I shall
have no great difficulty in reading the old script also."
Fray Antonio smiled a little as he glanced at Don Rafael, who smiled
also, and as he turned out his hands, answered: "Perhaps. But it is not
quite the same as print, as the señor will know when he tries. But it
makes no difference; for what is most interesting in our archives I
shall be glad--and so also will be Don Rafael--to aid him in reading.
"You must know, señor," he went on, dropping his formal mode of address
as his interest in the subject augmented, and as his feeling towards me
grew warmer, "that many precious documents are here preserved. So early
as the year 1536 this western region was erected into a Custodia,
distinct from the Province of the Santo Evangelio of Mexico; and from
that time onward letters and reports relating to the work done by the
missionaries of our order among the heathen have been here received. In
truth, I doubt not that many historic treasures are hidden here. In
modern times, during the last hundred years or more, but little thought
has been given to the care of these old papers--which are so precious to
such as Don Rafael and yourself because of their antiquarian value, and
which are still more precious to me because they tell of the sowing
among the heathen of the seed of God's own Word. It is probable that
they have not been at all examined into since our learned brothers Pablo
de Beaumont and Alonzo de la Rea were busy with the writing of their
chronicles of this Province--and the labors of these brothers ended more
than two hundred and fifty years ago. In the little time that I myself
can give to such matters I already have found many manuscripts which
cast new and curious light upon the strange people who dwelt here in
Mexico before the Spaniards came. Some of these I will send for your
examination, for they will prepare you for the work you have in
contemplation by giving you useful knowledge of primitive modes of life
and tones of faith and phases of thought. And while you are in the
mountains, at Santa María and San Andrés, I will make further searches
in our archives, and what I find you shall see upon your return.
"With your permission, señores, I must now go about my work. Don Rafael
knows that I am much too ready to forget my work in talk of ancient
matters. It is a weakness with me--this love for the study of
antiquity--that I struggle against, but that seems rather to increase
upon me than to be overcome. This afternoon, señor, I will send a few of
the ancient manuscripts to you. And so--until we meet again."
II.
THE CACIQUE'S SECRET.
Fray Antonio punctually fulfilled his promise in regard to the
manuscripts, and I had but to glance at them in order to understand the
smile that he had interchanged with Don Rafael when I so airily had
expressed my confidence in my ability to read them. To say that I more
easily could read Hebrew is not to the purpose, for I can read Hebrew
very well; but it is precisely to the purpose to say that I could not
read them at all! What with the curious, involved formation of the
several letters, the extraordinary abbreviations, the antique spelling,
the strange forms of expression, and the use of obsolete words I could
not make sense of so much as a single line. Yet when, being forced into
inglorious surrender, I carried the manuscripts to the Museo, and
appealed to Don Rafael for assistance, he read to me in fluent Spanish
all that I had found so utterly incomprehensible. "It is only a knack,"
he explained. "A little time and patience are required at first, but
then all comes easily." But Don Rafael did here injustice to his own
scholarship. More than a little time and patience have I since given to
the study of ancient Spanish script, and I am even yet very far from
being an expert in the reading of it.
In regard to the other promise that Fray Antonio made me--that he would
send me a servant who also would serve as a practical instructor in the
Nahua, or Aztec, dialect--he was equally punctual. While I was taking,
in my bedroom, my first breakfast of bread and coffee the morning
following my visit to the church of San Francisco, I heard a faint sound
of music; but whether it was loud music at a distance or very soft music
near at hand I could not tell. Presently I perceived that the musician
was feeling about among the notes for the sabre song from _La Grande
Duchesse_--selections from which semi-obsolete opera, as I then
remembered, had been played by the military band on the plaza the
evening before. Gradually the playing grew more assured; until it ended
in an accurate and spirited rendering of the air. With this triumph, the
volume of the sound increased greatly; and from its tones I inferred
that the instrument was a concertina, and that whoever played it was in
the inner court-yard of the hotel. Suddenly, in the midst of the music,
there sounded--and this sound unmistakably came from the hotel
court-yard--the prodigious braying of an ass; and accompanying this came
the soft sound of bare feet hurrying away down the passage from near my
door.
I opened the door and looked out, but the passage was empty. The gallery
overlooked the court-yard, and stepping to the edge of the low stone
railing, I beheld a sight that I never recall without a feeling of warm
tenderness. Almost directly beneath me stood a small gray ass, a very
delicately shaped and perfect little animal, with a coat of most
extraordinary length and fuzziness, and with ears of a truly prodigious
size. His head was raised, and his great ears were pricked forward in a
fashion which indicated that he was most intently listening; and upon
his face was an expression of such benevolent sweetness, joined to such
thoughtfulness and meditative wisdom, that in my heart (which is very
open to affection for his gentle kind) there sprung up in a moment a
real love for him. Suddenly he lowered his head, and turned eagerly his
regard towards the corner of the court-yard where descended the
stair-way from the gallery on which I stood; and from this quarter came
towards him a smiling, pleasant-faced Indian lad of eighteen or twenty
years old, whose dress was a cotton shirt and cotton trousers, whose
feet were bare, and on whose head was a battered hat of straw. And as
the ass saw the boy, he strained at the cord that tethered him and gave
another mighty bray.
"Dost thou call me, Wise One?" said the boy, speaking in Spanish. "Truly
this Señor Americano is a lazy señor, that he rises so late, and keeps
us waiting for his coming so long. But patience, Wise One. The Padre
says that he is a good gentleman, in whose service we shall be treated
as though we were kings. No doubt I now can buy my rain-coat. And thou,
Wise One--thou shalt have beans!"
And being by this time come to the ass, the boy enfolded in his arms the
creature's fuzzy head and gently stroked its preternaturally long ears.
And the ass, for its part, responded to the caress by rubbing its head
against the boy's breast and by most energetically twitching its scrag
of a tail. Thus for a little time these friends manifested for each
other their affection; and then the boy seated himself on the pavement
beside the ass and drew forth from his pocket a large mouth-organ--on
which he went to work with such a will that all the court-yard rang with
the strains of Offenbach's music.
It was plain from what he had said that this was the boy whom Fray
Antonio had promised to send to me; and notwithstanding his
uncomplimentary comments upon my laziness, I had taken already a strong
liking to him. I waited until he had played through the sabre song
again--to which, as it seemed to me, the ass listened with a slightly
critical yet pleased attention--and then I hailed him.
"The lazy Señor Americano is awake at last, Pablo," I called. "Come up
hither, and we will talk about the buying of thy rain-coat, and about
the buying of the Wise One's beans."
The boy jumped up as though a spring had been let loose beneath him, and
his shame and confusion were so great that I was sorry enough that I had
made my little joke upon him.
"It is all right, my child," I said, quickly, and with all the kindness
that I could put into my tones. "Thou wert talking to the Wise One, not
to me--and I have forgotten all that I heard. Thou art come from Fray
Antonio?"
"Yes, señor," he answered; and as he saw by my smiling that no harm had
been done, he also smiled; and so honest and kindly was the lad's face
that I liked him more and more.
"Patience for yet a little longer, Wise One," he said, turning to the
ass, who gravely wagged his ears in answer. And then the boy came up the
stair to the gallery, and so we went to my room that I might have talk
with him.
It was not much that Pablo had to tell about himself. He was a
Guadalajara lad, born in the Indian suburb of Mexicalcingo--as his
musical taste might have told me had I known more of Mexico--who had
drifted out into the world to seek his fortune. His capital was the
ass--so wise an ass that he had named him El Sabio. "He knows each word
that I speak to him, señor," said Pablo, earnestly. "And when he hears,
even a long way off, the music that I make upon the little instrument,
he know that it is from me that the music comes, and calls to me. And he
loves me, señor, as though he were my brother; and he knows that with
the same tenderness I also love him. It was the good Padre who gave him
to me. God rest and bless him always!" This pious wish, I inferred,
related not to the ass but to Fray Antonio.
"And how dost thou live, Pablo?" I asked.
"By bringing water from the Spring of the Holy Children, señor. It is
two leagues away, the Ojo de los Santos Niños, and El Sabio and I make
thither two journeys daily. We bring back each time four jars of water,
which we sell here in the city--for it is very good, sweet water--at
three _tlacos_ the jar. You see, I make a great deal of money,
señor--three _reales_ a day! If it were not for one single thing, I
should soon be rich."
That riches could be acquired rapidly on a basis of about twenty-seven
cents, in our currency, a day struck me as a novel notion. But I
inquired, gravely: "And this one thing that hinders thee from getting
rich, Pablo, what is it?"
"It is that I eat so much, señor," Pablo answered, ruefully. "Truly it
seems as though this belly of mine never could be filled. I try
valiantly to eat little and so to save my money; but my belly cries out
for more and yet more food--and so my money goes. Although I make so
much, I can scarcely save a _medio_ in a whole week, when what El Sabio
must have and what I must have is paid for. And I am trying so hard to
save just now, for before the next rainy season comes I want to own a
rain-coat. But for a good one I must pay seven _reales_. The price is
vast."
"What is a rain-coat, Pablo?"
"The señor does not know? That is strange. It is a coat woven of palm
leaves, so that all over one it is as a thatch that the rain cannot come
through. What I was saying just now to El Sabio--" Pablo stopped
suddenly, and turned aside from me in a shamefaced way, as he
remembered what he also had said to El Sabio about my laziness.
"--Was that out of the wages I am to pay thee thou canst save enough
money to buy thy coat with," I said, quickly, wishing to rid him of his
confusion. And then we fell to talking of what these wages should be,
and of how he was to help me to gain a speaking knowledge of his native
tongue--for so far we had spoken Spanish together--and of what in
general would be his duties as my servant. That El Sabio could be
anything but a part of the contract seemed never to cross Pablo's mind;
and so presently our terms were concluded, and I found myself occupying
the responsible relation of master to a mouth-organ playing boy and an
extraordinarily wise ass. It was arranged that both of these dependants
of mine should accompany me in my expedition to the Indian villages; and
to clinch our bargain I gave Pablo the seven _reales_ wherewith to buy
his rain-coat on the spot.
I was a little surprised, two days later, when we started from Morelia
on our journey into the mountains to the westward, to find that Pablo
had not bought his much-desired garment; though, to be sure, as the
rainy season still was a long way off, there was no need for it. He
hesitated a little when I questioned him about it, and then, in a very
apologetic tone, said: "Perhaps the señor will forgive me for doing so
ill with his money. But indeed I could not help it. There is an old man,
his name is Juan, señor, who has been very good to me many times. He has
given me things to put into this wretchedly big belly of mine; and when
I broke one of my jars he lent me the money to buy another with, and
would take from me again only what the jar cost and no more. Just now
this old many is sick--it is rheumatism, señor--and he has no money at
all, and he and his wife have not much to eat, and I know what pain that
is. And so--and so--Will the señor forgive me? I do not need the
rain-coat now, the señor understands. And so I gave Juan the seven
_reales_, which he will pay me when he gets well and works again; and
should he die and not pay me--Does the señor know what I have been
thinking? It is that rain-coats really are not very needful things,
after all. Without them one gets wet, it is true; but then one soon gets
dry again. But truly"--and there was a sudden catching in Pablo's throat
that was very like a sob--"truly I did want one."
When Pablo had told this little story I did not wonder at the esteem in
which Fray Antonio held him, and from that time onward he had a very
warm place in my heart. And I may say that but for his too great
devotion to his mouth-organ--for that boy never could hear a new tune
but that he needs must go at once to practising it upon his beloved
"instrumentito" until he had mastered it--he was the best servant that
man ever had. And within his gentle nature was a core of very gallant
fearlessness. In the times of danger which we shared together later,
excepting only Rayburn, not one of us stood face to face and foot to
foot with death with a steadier or a calmer bravery; for in all his
composition there did not seem to be one single fibre that could be made
to thrill in unison with fear. Of his qualities as a servant I had a
good trial during the two months that we were together in the
mountains--in which time I got enough working knowledge of the Indian
dialects to make effective the knowledge that I had gained from
books--and I was amazed by the quickness that he manifested in
apprehending and in supplying my wants and in understanding my ways.
As to making any serious study of Indian customs--save only those of the
most open and well-known sort--in this short time, I soon perceived that
the case was quite hopeless. Coming from Fray Antonio, whose benevolent
ministrations among them had won their friendship, the Indians treated
me with a great respect and showed me every kindness. But I presently
began to suspect, and this later grew to be conviction, that because my
credentials came from a Christian priest I was thrust away all the more
resolutely from knowledge of their inner life. What I then began to
learn, and what I learned more fully later, convinced me that these
Indians curiously veneered with Christian practices their native heathen
faith; manifesting a certain superstitious reverence for the Christian
rites and ceremonies, yet giving sincere worship only to their heathen
gods. It was something to have arrived at this odd discovery, but it
tended only to show me how difficult was the task that I had set myself
of prying into the secrets of the Indians' inner life.
Indeed, but for an accident, I should have returned to Morelia no wiser,
practically, than when I left it; but by that turn of chance fortune
most wonderfully favored me, and with far-reaching consequences. It was
on the last afternoon of my stay in the village of Santa María; and the
beginning of my good-luck was that I succeeded in walking out upon the
mountain-side alone. My walk had a decided purpose in it, for each time
that I had tried to go in this direction one or another of the Indians
had been quickly upon my heels with some civil excuse about the danger
of falling among the rocks for leading me another way. How I thus
succeeded at last in escaping from so many watchful eyes I cannot say,
but luck was with me, and I went on undisturbed. The sharply sloping
mountain-side, very wild and rugged, was strewn with great fragments of
rock which had fallen from the heights above, and which, lying there for
ages beneath the trees, had come to be moss-grown and half hidden by
bushes and fallen leaves. In the dim light that filtered through the
branches, walking in so uncertain a place was attended with a good deal
of danger; for not only was there a likelihood of falls leading to
broken legs, but broken necks also were an easy possibility by the
chance of a slip upon the mossy edge of one or another of the many
ledges, followed by a spin through the air ending suddenly upon the
jagged rocks below. Indeed, so ticklish did I find my way that I began
to think that the Indians had spoken no more than the simple truth in
warning me against such dangers, and that I had better turn again while
light remained to bring me back in safety; and just as I had reached
this wise conclusion my feet slid suddenly from under me on the very
edge of one of the ledges, and over I went into the depth below.
Fortunately I fell not more than a dozen feet or so, and my fall was
broken by a friendly bed of leaves and moss. When I got to my feet
again, in a moment, I found myself in a narrow cleft in the rocks, and I
was surprised to see that through this cleft ran a well-worn path. All
thought of the danger that I had just escaped from so narrowly was
banished form my mind instantly as I made this discovery; and full of
the exciting hope that I was about to find something which the Indians
most earnestly desired to conceal, I went rapidly and easily onward in
the direction that I had been pressing towards with so much difficulty
along the rocky mountain-side. The course of this sunken path, I soon
perceived, was partly natural and partly artificial. It went on through
clefts such as the one that I had fallen into, and through devious ways
where the fragments of fallen rock, some of them great masses weighing
many tons, had been piled upon each other in most natural confusion, so
as to leave a narrow passage in their depths. And all this had been done
in a long-past time, for the rocks were thickly coated with moss; and in
one place, where a watercourse crossed the path, were smoothed by water
in a way that only centuries could have accomplished. So cleverly was
the concealment effected, the way so narrow and so irregular, that I
verily believe an army might have scoured that mountain-side and never
found the path at all, save by such accident as had brought me into it.
For half a mile or more I went on in the waning light, my heart
throbbing with the excitement of it all, and so came out at last upon a
vast jutting promontory of rock that was thrust forth from the
mountain's face eastwardly. Here was an open space of an acre or more,
in the centre of which was a low, altar-like structure of stone. At the
end of the narrow path, being still within its shelter, I stopped to
make a careful survey of the ground before me; for I realized that in
what I was doing Death stood close at my elbow, and that, unless I acted
warily, he surely would have me in his grasp. Coming out of the shadows
of the woods and the deeper shadows of the sunken path to this wide open
space, where the light of the brilliant sunset was reflected strongly
from masses of rosy clouds over all the eastern sky, I could see
clearly. In the midst of the opening, not far from the edge of the
stupendous precipice, where the bare rock dropped sheer down a thousand
feet or more, was a huge bowlder that had been cut and squared with
ineffective tools into the rude semblance of a mighty altar. The
well-worn path along which I had come told the rest of the story. Here
was the temple, having for its roof the great arch of heaven, in which
the Indians, whom the gentle Fray Antonio believed to be such good
Christians, truly worshipped their true gods; even as here their fathers
had worshipped before them in the very dawning of the ancient past.
A tremor of joy went through me as I realized what I had found. Here was
positive proof of what I had strongly but not surely hoped for. The
Aztec faith truly was still a living faith; and it followed almost
certainly that, could I but penetrate the mystery with which it was
hedged about so carefully by them still faithful to it, I would find
all that I sought--of living customs, of coherent traditions--wherewith
to exhibit clearly to the world of the nineteenth century the wonderful
social and religious structure that the Spaniards of the sixteenth
century had blotted out, but had not destroyed. What my
fellow-archæologists had accomplished in Syria, in Egypt, in Greece, was
nothing to what I could thus accomplish in Mexico. At the best, Smith,
Rawlinson, Schliemann, had done no more than stir the dust above the
surface of dead antiquity; but I was about to bring the past freshly and
brightly into the very midst of the present, and to make antiquity once
more alive!
As I stood there in the dusk of the narrow pathway, while the joy that
was in my heart swelled it almost to bursting, there came to my ears the
low moaning of one in pain. The faint, uncertain sound seemed to come
from the direction of the great stone altar. To discover myself in that
place to any of the Indians, I knew would end my archæological ambition
very summarily; yet was I moved by a natural desire to aid whoever thus
was hurting and suffering. I stood irresolute a moment, and then, as the
moaning came to me again, I went out boldly into the open space, and
crossed it to where the altar was. As I rounded the great stone I saw a
very grievous sight: an old man lying upon the bare rock, a great gash
in his forehead from which the blood had flowed down over his face and
breast, making him a most ghastly object to look upon; and there was
about him a certain limpness that told of many broken bones. He turned
his head at the sound of my footsteps, but it was plain that the blood
flowing into his eyes had blinded him, and that he could not see me. He
made a feeble motion to clear his eyes, but dropped his partly raised
arm suddenly and with a moan of pain. I recognized him at a glance. He
was the Cacique, the chief, and also, as I had shrewdly guessed, the
priest of the village--the very last person whom I would have desired to
meet in that place.
"Ah, thou art come to me at last, Benito!" he said, speaking in a low
and broken voice. "I have been praying to our gods that they would send
thee to me--for my death has come, and it is needful that the one secret
still hidden from thee, my successor, should be told. I was on the
altar's top, and thence I fell."
I perceived in what the Cacique said that there was hope for me. He
could not see me, and he evidently believed that I was the second chief
of the village, Benito--an Indian who had talked much with me, and the
tones of whose voice I knew well. Doubtless my clumsy attempt to
simulate the Indian's speech would have been detected quickly under
other circumstances, but the Cacique believed that no other man could
have come to him in that place; and his whole body was wrung with
torturing pains, and he was in the very article of death. And so it was,
my prudence leading me to speak few and simple words, and my good-luck
still standing by me, he never guessed whose hands in his last moments
ministered to him.
As I raised his head a little and rested it upon my knee, he spoke
again, very feebly and brokenly: "On my breast is the bag of akin. In
it is the Priest-Captain's token, and the paper that shows the way to
where the stronghold of our race remains. Only with me abides this
secret, for I am of the ancient house, as thou art also, whence sprung
of old our priests and kings. Only when the sign that I have told thee
of--but telling thee not its meaning--comes from heaven, is the token to
be sent, and with it the call for aid. Once, as thou knowest, that sign
came, and the messenger, our own ancestor, departed. But there was anger
then against us among the gods, and they suffered not his message to be
delivered, and he himself was slain. Yet was the token preserved to
us, and yet again the sign from heaven will come. And then--thou
knowest--" But here a shiver of pain went through him, and his speech
gave place to agonizing moans. When he spoke again his words were but a
whisper. "Lay me--in front of--the altar," he said. "Now is the end."
"But the sign? What is it? And where is the stronghold?" I cried
eagerly; forgetting in the intense excitement of this strange disclosure
my need for reticence, and forgetting even to disguise my voice. But my
imprudence cost me nothing. Even as I spoke another shiver went through
the Cacique's body; and as there came from his lips, thereafter forever
to be silent, a sound, half moan, half gasp, his soul went out from him,
and he was at rest.
When a little calmness had returned to me, I took from his breast the
bag of skin--stained darkly where his blood had flowed upon it--and then
tenderly and reverently lifted his poor mangled body and laid it before
the altar. And so I came back along the hidden path, safely and
unperceived, to the village: leaving the dead Cacique there in the
solemn solitude of that great mountain-top, whereon the dusk of night
was gathering, alone in death before the altar of his gods.
III.
THE MONK'S MANUSCRIPT.
When Pablo and I started, the day following, upon our return to Morelia,
the village of Santa María was overcast with mourning. The Cacique was
dead, they told us; had fallen among the rocks on the mountain-side,
being an old man and feeble, and so was killed. And I was expressly
charged with a message to the good Padre, begging him to hasten to Santa
María that the dead man might have Christian burial. I confess that I
found this request, though I promised faithfully to comply with it,
highly amusing; for I knew beyond the possibility of a doubt that if
ever a man died a most earnest and devout heathen it was this same
Cacique for whom Christian burial was sought; and I felt an assured
conviction that when the services of the Church over him were ended--and
whatever good was to be had for him from them secured--he would be
buried fittingly with all the fulness of his own heathen rites. But this
matter, lying in what I already perceived to be the very wide region
between the avowed faith and the hidden faith of the Indians, was no
concern of mine; yet I longed, as only a thoroughly earnest
archæologist could long, to be a witness of the funeral ceremony in
which Fray Antonio most conspicuously would not take part. As this was
hopelessly impossible--for only by very slow advances, if ever, could I
reach again by considerate investigation the point that in a moment I
had reached by chance--I came away from Santa María reluctantly, yet
greatly elated by the discovery that I had made.
So jealous was I in guarding the strange legacy that the Cacique had
bequeathed to me that not until I was safe back in Morelia, in my room
at the hotel, with the door locked behind me, did I venture to examine
it. The bag, about six inches square, tightly sewed on all four of its
sides, was made of snake-skin, and was provided with a loop of
snake-skin so that it might be hung from the neck upon the breast like a
scapulary. My hands trembled as I cut the delicate stitching of maguey
fibre, and then drew forth a mass of several thicknesses of coarse
gray-brown paper, also made of the maguey, such as the ancient Aztecs
used. Being unfolded, I had before me a sheet nearly two feet square, on
which was painted in dull colors a curious winding procession of figures
and symbols. My knowledge of such matters being then but scant, I could
tell only that this was a record, at once historical and geographical,
of a tribal migration; and I saw at a glance that it was unlike either
of the famous picture-writings which record the migration of the Aztecs
from Culhuacan to the Valley of Mexico, and then about that valley until
their final settlement in Tenochtitlan. I was reasonably confident,
indeed, that this record differed from all existing codices; and I was
filled with what I hope will be looked upon as a pardonable pride at
having discovered, within three months of my coming to Mexico, this
unique and inestimable treasure.
My natural desire was to carry my precious codex at once to Don Rafael,
that I might have the benefit of his superior knowledge in studying it
(for he had continued very intelligently the investigation of Aztec
picture-writing that was so well begun by the late Señor Ramirez), and
also that I might enjoy his sympathetic enjoyment of my discovery. As I
raised the bag, that I might replace in it the refolded paper--which I
already saw heralded to the world as the Codex Palgravius, and
reproduced in fac-simile in _Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent
of North America_--some glittering object dropped out of it and fell
with a jingling sound upon the stone floor. When I examined eagerly this
fresh treasure I found that it was a disk of gold, about the size and
thickness of a Mexican silver dollar, on which a curious figure was
rudely engraved. The engraving obviously represented an Aztec
name-device, the like of which, in the ancient picture-writings,
distinguish one from another the several generations of a line of kings.
This name-device was strange to me; but, as I have said, I had not at
that time studied carefully the Aztec picture-writings, and there were
many names of kings which I would not then have recognized. But that the
gold disk was the token concerning the meaning of which the dying
Cacique had given so strange a hint, I felt assured.
Being still further gladdened by this fresh discovery, I carried my
treasures at once to the Museo; and Don Rafael's enthusiasm over them
was as hearty as I could desire. Being so deeply learned in such
matters, he was able in the course of a single afternoon to arrive at
much of the meaning of my codex; and his rendering of it showed that it
possessed a very extraordinary historical value. In the Codex Boturini,
as is well known, are several important lapses that neither that eminent
scholar, nor any other archæologist whose conclusions can be considered
trustworthy, has been able to supply. All that reasonably can be
imagined concerning these breaks is that the historian of the Aztec
migration deliberately omitted certain facts from his pictured history.
The astonishing discovery that Don Rafael made in regard to my codex was
that it unquestionably supplied the facts concealed in one of the
longest of these unaccountable blanks. This was not a mere guess on his
part, but a demonstrable certainty. On a fac-simile of the Codex
Boturini he bade me observe attentively the pictures which preceded and
which followed the break in question; and then he showed me that these
same pictures were the beginning and the ending of my own
codex--obviously put there so that this secret record might be inserted
accurately into the public record of the wanderings of the Aztec tribe.
Further, the geographical facts set forth in the Codex Boturini having
been very solidly established, it was easy to determine approximately
the part of Mexico to which the beginning and the end of my codex
referred. But the migration here recorded was a very long one, and all
that Don Rafael could say with certainty concerning it was that it told
of far journeyings into the west and north. He was much puzzled,
moreover, by a picture that occurred about the middle of the codex, and
that seemed to be intended to represent a walled city among mountains.
To my mind this picture tallied well with what the dying Cacique had
told me touching the hidden stronghold of his race. But Don Rafael
attached very little importance to the Cacique's words; and on
archæological grounds maintained that a walled city was an impossibility
in primitive Mexico--for while walls were built in plenty by the
primitive Mexicans, and still are to be found in many places, no mention
of a walled city is made by the early chroniclers, and of such a city
there never has been found the slightest trace.
In regard to the engraved disk of gold, Don Rafael said at once and
positively that it represented a name-device which never had been
figured in any known Aztec writing; and he was of the opinion--being led
thereto by consideration of certain delicate peculiarities of the figure
which were too subtle for my uninstructed apprehension to grasp--that
the name here symbolized was that of a ruler who was both priest and
king. That the piece of gold was found associated with picture-writing
unquestionably belonging to the theocratic period lent additional color
to this assumption. The sum of our conclusions, therefore, was that we
had here the name-device of a priest-king who had ruled the Aztec tribe
during some portion of the first migration. And, assuming that he had
lived during the period to which my codex referred, and accepting the
system of dates tentatively adopted by Señor Ramirez, we even fixed the
ninth century of our era as the period in which he had lived and ruled.
During two whole days Don Rafael and I worked together over these
matters in the Museo; and it was not until our investigations were
ended--so far, at least, as investigations could be said to be ended
while yet no definite conclusions were reached--that my thoughts
reverted to Fray Antonio, and to the requirement of courtesy that I
should report to him the result of my course of study in the Indian
tongues. It is but justice to myself to add that, knowing him to be gone
to Santa María to attend to the Cacique's burial, I had temporarily
dismissed this matter from my mind.
But when I was come to the Church of San Francisco--carrying with me the
Codex Palgravius and the engraved disk of gold, in both of which I knew
that he would take a keen interest--I had no immediate opportunity of
exhibiting to him my treasures.
As I pushed open the sacristy door, when I had knocked upon it and he
had called me to enter, he came towards me at once in excitement so
eager that his face was all lit up by it; and almost before I could
greet him he exclaimed: "You are most happily come, my friend. At this
very moment I was about to send for you; for I have found that which
will stir your heart even as it has stirred mine. Yet perhaps," and he
spoke more gravely, "it will not stir your heart in the same way that
mine is stirred by it--for if I can but find the key that will unlock
the whole of the mystery that here partly is revealed, I see before me
such opportunity to garner the Lord's vintage as comes but seldom to His
servants in these later ages of the world."
So strange was Fray Antonio's manner, and so wayward seemed his speech,
that I was half inclined to think his religious enthusiasm fairly had
landed him in religious madness; which thought must have found utterance
in my look of doubtfulness, for he smiled kindly at me, and in a quieter
tone went on:
"My wits still are with me, Don Tomas; though I do not wonder at your
thinking that I have lost them. Sit down here and listen to the story of
my discovery; and when it is ended you will perceive that I very well
may be excited by it and still be sane."
Being assured by this calmer speech that Fray Antonio had not taken
leave of his senses, I made a weak disclaimer, that he smilingly
accepted, of my too clearly expressed doubts in that direction; and so
seated myself to listen.
"You know, señor," he began, "that common report has declared that
beneath this Church of San Francisco is a secret passage that extends
under the city and has its exit in the outlying meadow-lands. I may
confide in you frankly that this passage does exist, and that I, in
common with all members of my Order who have dwelt here, know precisely
where its entrance is and where its outlet. These matters need not be
exposed, for they are not essential to my purpose. But you must know
that in the midst of this passage I found on the day preceding your
return from the mountains a little room of which the door was so well
concealed that my finding it was the merest accident. And in the room,
with other things which need not here be named, I found a chest in which
are certain ancient papers of which I have been long in search. In the
archives are frequent references to these papers--they are of much
importance to our Order--but as with all my search I never could
discover them, I had decided in my mind that in one or another of the
troublous periods that our Church has passed through they had been
destroyed. It is plain to me now that in one of these periods of danger
they were hidden in this safe place.
"Some of these papers, dealing with mere matters of history, you will
have pleasure in examining in due time. But that which I shall show you
now, and which has so excited me that you not unnaturally thought that I
had gone mad over it, has got among the rest, as I verily believe, by
simple accident. Among the books and papers in the chest was a parchment
case on which was written 'Mission of Santa Marta,' and the date '1531.'
Within it were some loose sheets of paper on which were records of
Indian baptisms, as is evident by the strange mixing of Christian and of
heathen names. Plainly, this was the register of some mission station of
our Order in that far-back time. But as I pried into the case more
closely, I found, within a double fold of the parchment--yet not as
though intentionally hidden, but rather as though there placed for
temporary safety--a sealed letter directed to the blessed Fray Juan de
Zumárraga, who was of our Order, and who, as you know, was the first
bishop of our holy Church in this New Spain. As I drew forth the
letter, the seal, that time had loosened, fell away and left it open in
my hand. That this letter never until now has been read I am altogether
confident, for the prodigy of which it tells would have made so great a
stir that ample record of it would have been preserved. Nor is it
difficult to account for the way in which it missed coming to the eye
for which it was intended. In that early time many and many of our
Order, going out to preach God's Word among the barbarians, came happily
to that end which is the happiest end attainable in God's service: a
blessed martyrdom." Fray Antonio's voice trembled with deep feeling as
he spoke, and I remembered that Don Rafael had told me that this good
brother, it was believed, himself longed for a death so glorious. "And
being thus slain," Fray Antonio in a moment continued, "the mission
stations which they had established were left desolate, with what they
held--save such few things as might be cared for by the savage
murderers--remaining there within them. In later times, as the
conquering Spaniards overspread the land, many of these stations were
found, with nothing to tell save nameless bones of those who had died
there that God's will might be done.
"It is my conjecture, therefore, that this parchment case was found--how
many years after the death of him who owned it, who can tell?--in one of
the many stations that the savages thus ravaged; that the soldiers, or
whoever may have found it, brought it hither, the nearest important
abiding-place of our Order; and that, being carelessly examined, it was
carelessly thrown aside when found to contain, apparently, only the
little record of the work which our dead brother accomplished before God
granted him his crown of earthly martyrdom and so made quick his way to
heaven. Had the letter ever reached that 'first hand' for which the
writer says he waits to send it by, it assuredly would have come to the
knowledge of the gold-loving Spanish conquerors, and armies would have
gone forth to answer it. But our dead brother, having written it and
placed it in this fold of the parchment for safety until the chance to
send it southward should come, was cut off from life suddenly; and so,
of the prodigious marvel of which knowledge had so strangely come to
him, only this mute and hidden record remained."
"But the letter itself?" I asked, with more energy than politeness.
"What _is_ the story that it contains? What is this mystery? Tell me of
it first, and then explain as much as you please afterwards."
Fray Antonio smiled at me kindly. "Ah, you too are becoming excited," he
said. "But, truly, it is not fair that I should thus have kept you
waiting. Indeed, I am so full of it all that I forgot that as yet you
know nothing. Come out with me into the court-yard, where the light is
stronger--for the writing is very faint and pale--and I will read you
this letter in which so wonderful a story is set forth."
Together we passed out through a little door in the rear of the sacristy
into what had been the inner and smaller cloister court-yard of the old
convent--a lovely place in which a fountain set in a quaint stone basin
sparkled, and where warm sunshine fell upon the rippling water and upon
beds of sweet-smelling flowers. And here it was, standing among the
flowers in the sunshine, beside the quaint fountain, that Fray Antonio
read to me the letter--that in this strange fashion had come to us from
a hand dead for much more than three centuries, and that yet brought to
us two a vital message that wholly was to shape our destinies.
IV.
MONTEZUMA'S MESSENGER.
The letter was without date, but, being addressed to the Bishop
Zumárraga, the phrase that occurred in it--"this New Spain, wherein,
Very Reverend Father, you have labored in God's service this year and
more past"--showed that 1530 was the year in which it was written. As to
place, there practically was no clew at all. The writer referred
repeatedly to "this mission of Santa Marta, in the Chichimeca
country"--but the mission had perished utterly but a little while after
it was founded; and at that period the term Chichimeca country was used
by the Spaniards in speaking of any part of Mexico where wild Indians
were.
Being shorn of a portion of its pious verbiage, and somewhat modernized
in style, the ancient Spanish of this letter contained in effect these
English words:
[Illustration: THE LETTER FROM THE DEAD.]
"VERY REVEREND FATHER,--This present letter will be sent
forward to you by the first hand by which it may be hence
transmitted; and in your wisdom, with God's grace also guiding you,
I doubt not that you will take measures for sending missionaries of
our Order to the great company of the heathen whose whereabouts I am
to disclose to you. And also, no doubt--keeping the matter secret
from the pestilent Oidores of the Audiencia--you will communicate
this strange matter through safe channels to our lord the King: that
with our missionaries an army may go forth, and that so the great
treasure of which I give tidings may be wrested from the heathen to
be used for God's glory and the enriching of our lord the King.
"Know, Very Reverend Father, that a month since, I being then
abroad from this mission of Santa Marta, preaching God's word in a
certain village of the Chichimecas that is five leagues to the
northward, was so strengthened by God's grace that many of the
heathen professed our holy faith and were baptized. And of these
was one who among that tribe was held a captive. Which captive, as
I found, was of the nation that dwelt in Tenochtitlan before our
great captain, Don Fernando Cortés, reduced that city to
submission. But little of earthly life remained to this poor
captive when I, unworthily but happily, opened to him the way to
life glorious and eternal; for in the fight that happened when he
was captured--of which fight he alone of all his companions had
survived--he was sorely wounded; and though in time his wounds had
healed he remained but a weakly man, and the service to which his
captors forced him was hard. So it was that I had but little more
than time to put him in the way leading to heaven before his spirit
gladly forsook its weary body and went thence from earth.
"That he truly was a convert to our holy faith I am well assured,
by the signs of a spirit meet for repentance which he showed in his
own person; and still more by his strong longing, most earnestly
expressed, that this same glorious faith of freedom should be
preached to a certain great company of his people, whereof he most
secretly told me, who still remain bound in the bondage of
idolatry. And it is what he told me of these, Very Reverend Father,
and of the marvellous hidden city wherein they dwell, and of the
mighty treasure which there they guard, that I desire now to bring
to your private knowledge, before it shall be known of by the
Oidores, and through you to our lord the King. Here now is the
whole of the mystery that he recited:
"In very ancient times, he said, his people came forth from seven
caves which are in the western region of this continent, and
wandered long in search of an abiding-place. And in the course of
ages it came to pass that a certain wise king ruled over them to
whom was given the gift of prophecy. Which king, by name
Chaltzantzin, foretold that in the later ages there should come an
army of fair and bearded men from the eastward, who would prevail
over the people of his race: slaying many, and making of the
remainder slaves. Being sorely troubled by thought of what he thus
foresaw, he set himself to provide a source of strength whereon his
descendants in that later time might draw in the hour of their
peril--and so save themselves from cruel death and from yet crueler
slavery. To which end, in a certain great valley that lies securely
hidden among the mountains of this continent, he caused to be built
a walled city; and this city he then peopled with the very bravest
and strongest of his race. And he made for those dwelling there a
perpetual law that commanded that all such as showed themselves
when come to maturity to be weak or malformed in body, or coward of
heart, then should be put to death; to the end that their natural
increase ever should be of the same stout stuff as themselves, and
also that there might be no lack of victims for the sacrifices
which are acceptable to their barbarous gods. And thus he provided
that in the time of need there should be here a strong army of
valiant warriors, ready to come forth to fight against the
fair-faced bearded men, and by conquering them to save safe the
land.
"And yet more provision did King Chaltzantzin make for the
strengthening and the saving of his race in the later ages. Within
this walled city of Culhuacan he caused to be builded a great
treasure-house, wherein he garnered such store of riches as never
was gathered together in one place since the beginning of the
world. And his order was that if even the power of the army which
should go forth from that city sufficed not to conquer the foreign
foemen, then should this vast treasure be used to buy his people's
ransom, that they might not perish nor be enslaved.
"Having set all which great matters in order, King Chaltzantzin
came forth from the Valley of Aztlan, leaving behind him the noble
colony that he had there founded; and so with his people wandered
vagrant--even as their gods had commanded that they should go until
by a sign from heaven they should be shown where was to be their
lasting home. And that the fulfilling of his purpose might be made
the more sure, he brought his people forth from that valley by most
perilous passes and through strait ways so that they might not
return thither; and that they who remained might not follow, he
closed the way behind him with mighty bars.
"In the fulness of time this wise king died, and others reigned in
his stead; and at last the ages of wandering of the Aztec tribe
were ended by the sign coming from heaven whereby they knew that
the Valley of Anahuac was to be their abiding home. There built
they the city of Tenochtitlan: which city the valiant captain, Don
Fernando Cortés, conquered this short time since--and by conquest
of it verified precisely the prophecy that King Chaltzantzin
uttered in very ancient times.
"But the captive Indian told me, further, that before the coming of
the Spaniards there was seen the sign of warning that King
Chaltzantzin had promised should tell when the danger that he had
so well prepared for should be near; which sign was the going out
of the sacred fire that the priests guarded on a certain high hill.
Meantime, all knowledge of their brethren hidden in the Valley of
Aztlan for their help in time of peril was lost to the Aztec tribe
in dim tradition; for the King had commanded, in order that his
people might not fall into weakness through trusting in the
strength of others for protection, that no open record of the
colony that he had founded should be preserved. Therefore was this
matter a secret known only to a few priests whose blood was of the
royal line; in whose keeping, also, was the token that King
Chaltzantzin had commanded should be sent to the walled city of
Culhuacan when its warriors were to be called forth, and a map
whereby the way thither was made plain. And so it was that,
when the sacred fire ceased burning, the priests were alert
for the threatened danger; and when the landing of the
Spaniards--'fair-faced and bearded men, coming for the
eastward'--was known to them, they warned their king, Montezuma,
that the prophecy was fulfilled, and that the time for sending for
the army and the treasure had come.
"For the bearer of this message was chosen a priest of the blood
royal, with whom went also a younger priest, his son. And with
these went a guard, whereof the captive Indian was one, that they
might be carried in safety through the region where the wild
Indians were. But the valor of the guard was useless, for the wild
Indians set upon them in such prodigious numbers--in a place not
far from where is this present mission of Santa Marta--that all of
the company, save only this single Indian who was wounded and made
captive, was overpowered and slain. Yet among the slain, the Indian
said, was not found the body of the priest's son; nor was there
found on the priest's body the token that he had been the bearer
of, nor the map that showed the way. For a time the Indian had
hoped that the younger priest had escaped out of the fight alive,
and had carried to them who dwelt in the walled city of Culhuacan
the message of summons; but as the years went onward and nothing
came of it, this hope had died within his heart.
"This, Very Reverend Father, is the strange story told me by this
Indian; who spoke with the urgent sincerity of one devout in the
Christian faith who knew by sensible perception that his death was
near at hand. Eagerly he begged that to these Gentiles, his
brethren by blood, might be sent in their secret fastnesses the
blessed Word whereby they would be delivered from the chains of
their idolatry into the freedom of Christian grace. And, surely,
the treasure that they ward very well may be wrested from these
heathen that it may be used in part in this land in God's service,
and that in part it may go to the just enriching of our lord the
King.
"Nor is the matter one that is difficult of accomplishment. For a
token which shall give us the right of entry into this walled city
of Culhuacan we need only the Word of God and a sufficient force of
men well armed with swords and matchlocks. Nor is it any bar to our
quest that the map showing the way thither has been lost. The
Indian told me that this way is so plainly marked that one who had
found it could not lose it again. For at spaces of not more than a
league or two apart, upon flat places of the rock convenient for
such purpose, was cut the same figure that the token of summons had
engraved upon it; and, with this, an arrow pointing towards where
the next carving would be found: and so these signs went onward,
the heathen priest had told him, even to the very entrance of the
Valley of Aztlan. And that this matter might be made sure to me, he
led me to a spot but a league to the westward of this mission of
Santa Marta and there showed me one of these signs, with the
pointing arrow carved also on the rock beside it--of all of which
the drawing here made is an indifferent good copy. And by that
guiding arrow we went onward to another like carving at a little
less than two leagues away to the northward. Therefore, Very
Reverend Father, I, of my own knowledge, am a witness to a part, at
least, of the truth of what that Indian told. And with all my heart
do I add mine own entreaty to his simple pleadings for the
salvation of the souls of his brethren; and also do I venture to
entreat that among those who go to carry the Word of God to this
hidden heathen host I may be one; so that I, though all unworthy of
such honor, shall have a part in rendering to God so glorious a
service.
"The more urgently do I ask this favor because here, in this
mission of Santa Marta, it is but too clear to me that I am
laboring in a barren field. Some hundreds of the heathen I have
indeed baptized; but among all these who have professed our
Christian faith scarce a score show outward and visible signs of a
true regeneration. Many, I am sadly sure, still practise in secret
their old idolatry--and find little more than mere amusement in the
rites of our most holy Church. When they tire of this novelty,
which, in the case of folk of such light natures no doubt will be
in a little while, they will return openly to their idolatry; and
it probably may happen that they then will sacrifice me to their
heathen gods. That, in one way or another, they do intend to kill
me, and that soon, I feel quite sure. I am but twenty-three years
old, Very Reverend Father; and that is an early time in life to end
it. No doubt, also, in killing me they will use torture. And I long
fervently to live, not only for the pleasure of it, but also that I
may do good service to God, and to our Father Saint Francis, by
saving many heathen souls. Therefore I beg that when the army
marches to the reduction of this hidden city that I may be one of
our brethren who will go with it, to hold by tender preaching of
God's goodness and mercy such heathen as may remain alive after our
soldiers shall have conquered that city with the sword.
"I commend you, Very Reverend Father, to the care of Our Lord in
all things, and pray that he may guard your most illustrious and
very reverend person, and protect you in all matters of your
temporal and spiritual estate. And I am the least worthy of your
servants,
FRANCISCO de los ANGELES."
"Of a truth," said Fray Antonio, as he ceased reading, "this brother of
mine adhered closely to the truth when he subscribed himself the least
worthy of the bishop's servants. Were it not here in his own hand, I
should refuse to believe that one of our Order at that time in New Spain
had any thought of saving his own life when God's work was to be done."
For myself, I must own that my heart was deeply touched by the very
humanity of this poor Brother Francisco's cry for help that came up out
of the dead depths of the past; and that was the more keen and pitiful
because the cruel death at the hands of the barbarous Indians that he so
dreaded assuredly had overtaken him. His could not have been a strong
nature, and it was the weaker because of his youth; but, after all, it
was the nature that God had given him, and there must have been a strain
of strength in it, else he never would have braved the dangers which
overcame him in the end. And he was "but twenty-three years old"!
Yet when I sought to lead Fray Antonio's mind to such consideration of
the matter he replied, sternly: "This weak brother failed in his duty.
To him God gave an opportunity to die gloriously for the Faith; but,
instead of accepting that noble reward joyfully, his strongest wish was
that he might find a way by which he might escape alive. Had all
professors of the Christian creed so conducted themselves, that creed
long since would have perished from off the earth. _Semen est sanguis
Christianorum_ is well said of Tertullian the Carthaginian, and, later,
of the blessed Saint Jerome."
As Fray Antonio thus spoke he so drew up his slight figure, and in his
sweet voice was a ring of such commanding sternness, that he was for the
moment transformed. Here was a man wholly different from the gentle
scholar whom I had already learned to love. In the glimpse that I thus
had of his underlying character I saw vivified again the spirit of the
early Christian Church; and I understood, as I never had understood
before, of what stuff they were made who heard pronounced upon them the
sentence, "To the lions!" and joyfully accepted their cruel fate,
defiant of what man might do to them because of the perfection of their
faith in the merciful forgiveness and upholding steadfastness of their
Christian God.
But in a moment a look of sadness and regret came into Fray Antonio's
face, and he added, sorrowfully: "God forgive me for thus judging my
brother, who long since was judged! Who can say that when the hour of
trial came he did not meet his death as bravely as any martyr of them
all? And who can say," he went on, but speaking softly, as one communing
with his own soul, "how I myself--But God gives strength." And then he
ceased to speak aloud, but his lips moved silently as though in prayer.
As I close my eyes I see him again as clearly as I saw him
then--standing beside the old stone fountain, amid the flowers, in the
gladness of the bright sunshine; in his eyes a strange, far-away look,
as though the future for a moment had been opened to him; and on his
strong, fine face a sternly resolute expression, which yet was softened
by the traits which were so strong within him of holiness and gentleness
and love. I cannot know what Fray Antonio prayed for, there in the old
convent garden; but I can guess, and I am well persuaded that his prayer
was heard. Truly, I think that it was something more than chance that
led us thus at first to talk, not of the wonder that was in Brother
Francisco's letter, but of Brother Francisco himself and of his end.
And then the subject-matter in chief of the letter claimed our
attention. In itself this was sufficiently marvellous; but what
increased the marvel of it was the conviction, strong within us both,
that if the hidden city of Culhuacan ever had existed at all it existed
still. Our belief was so entirely logical that, assuming the truth of
the story told by the Indian captive, it admitted nowhere of a doubt.
That the city had been hidden for a long period, through at least
several hundreds of years, from the Aztecs themselves, and that no
knowledge of it had been conveyed to them by wild Indians who had come
by chance upon the valley wherein it was, was evidence enough of the
security of its concealment. There was nothing surprising, consequently,
in the fact that the Spaniards had not discovered it when they first
overran Mexico, nor that it had remained unknown to the Mexicans of
modern times. As is well known, there are to this day prodigious areas
in Mexico which remain utterly unexplored. In the region west of
Tampico; in the north-western States of Sinaloa, Durango, and Sonora; or
in the far southern States of Oajaca and Chiapas, a valley as great as
that in which the City of Mexico now stands might lie utterly hidden and
unknown. And if, as the Indian's narrative implied, this particular
valley had been selected deliberately because it was so hidden and so
inaccessible, and if the described precautions had been taken to isolate
its inhabitants, it very well might have continued to be lost in its
deep concealment through an almost infinite range of years. That it
never had been found since the Spaniards came into Mexico we were
absolutely certain, for the outcry over so great a wonder would have
echoed throughout the whole of the civilized world. Finally, in the name
of the city, Culhuacan, we had a substantial fact which connected the
extraordinary story that had come to us so strangely with matters within
our own knowledge. For this name not only is given in the Aztec
traditions as that of the sacred spot in which their god Huitzilopochtli
spoke to them, but survives until this present day in the name of the
village that lies at the foot of the sacred mountain, in the Valley of
Mexico, called by the Aztecs the Hill of Huitzachtla, and by the
Spaniards the Hill of the Star--on which, at the end of each cycle of
fifty-two years, the sacred fire was renewed. Surely it was no accident
that had caused the name Culhuacan to be given to this village on this
sacred spot; rather must it have been so named by the elect few to whom
the secret was known as a perpetual reminder to them of the reserve of
men and treasure upon which they could draw should danger threaten their
country and their gods.
"No doubt," said Fray Antonio, "what is here told of a secret record,
known only to the priests, supplies one of the lapses in the pictured
history of the Aztec migration; but as we know not which break in the
history is thus filled in, we have no clew whatever as to the
whereabouts of this hidden place. Nor have we any clew as to the
whereabouts of the mission of Santa Marta, whence we might go onward,
guided by the carvings upon the rocks, until we found at last the place
we sought. The mission of Santa Marta, where my brother Francisco long
ago ministered, might have been anywhere in all Mexico; and being so
small a mission, and enduring for so short a period, it is not likely
that any record of it anywhere has been preserved. Had we but the map
and the token of which my brother writes, our way would be clear;
without these guides it well may be a toilsome way and long. Yet do I
know," Fray Antonio continued, earnestly, "that I shall find this hidden
city. In my soul is a strong and glad conviction that God has called me
to the most glorious work of carrying to the heathen dwelling there the
message of His saving love. He has worked one miracle already to call me
to this duty; in His own good time and way I doubt not that He will work
another miracle by which I may be set in the way of its accomplishment."
As Fray Antonio spoke of the map of the Aztec migration, a hope came
into my heart that, as I considered it, seemed surely to be a certainty.
In the excitement of listening to this strange letter--concerning which
not the least strange matter was, that between the writing and the
reading of it had passed three hundred and fifty years--I had forgotten
my own discoveries, and that my purpose was to show him the pictured
paper and the curious piece of gold. But as he spoke of the migration
this matter was called to my mind suddenly; and then in an instant the
conviction thrilled through me that the clew which would lead us to the
hidden city was in my possession.
"God already has worked that other miracle," I cried, joyfully. "Here is
the token, and here is the map that shows the way!" and, so speaking, I
opened the snake-skin bag that I had taken from the breast of the dead
Cacique and drew forth its precious contents.
For myself, I needed no additional proof that here was all that was
needful to guide us to the hidden city. Yet was I glad that in so grave
a matter we should have added to absolute conviction the weight of
absolute proof. And this we had most clearly; for Fray Antonio, cooler
than I, compared the drawing in the letter with the engraving upon the
piece of gold, and found the two to be essentially identical, save that
the engraving lacked the sign of the arrow pointing the way.
"And now," I cried, enthusiastically, "for such discoveries in
archæology as the world has never known!"
"And now," said Fray Antonio, speaking slowly and reverently, "for such
glorious work in God's service as has been granted but rarely to man to
do!"
V.
THE ENGINEER AND THE LOST-FREIGHT MAN.
That the weight of a strange destiny was pressing upon us, neither Fray
Antonio nor I for a moment doubted. It was something more than chance,
we believed, that had brought us together, and that thereafter, by such
extraordinary means, had put into our hands, in places far asunder, yet
at almost precisely the same moment, these two ancient papers; either of
which, alone, would have been meaningless; but the two of which,
together, pointed clearly the way to a discovery so wonderful that the
like of it was not to be found in all the history of the world.
At the moment that I comprehended how great an adventure was before me,
and what honorable fame I was like to get out of it, I determined that I
would keep the whole matter secret from my fellow-archæologists until I
could tell them, not what I intended doing, but what I actually had
done--for I had no desire to divide with any one the honors that fairly
would be mine when I published to the world the result of my
investigation of this hidden community that had survived,
uncontaminated, from prehistoric times. Having this strong desire within
me, it was with great pleasure that I acceded to Fray Antonio's request
that our project of discovery should not be published abroad. His motive
for secrecy, as I presently perceived, was bred of the one single strain
of human weakness that ever I found in him. Even as I was determined
that no other archæologist should share with me the honor of discovering
this primitive community, so was Fray Antonio determined that to him
alone should belong the glory of carrying into that region of dense
heathen darkness the radiant splendor of the Christian faith. If this
were sin on his part, it certainly was a sin that he shared with many
saints long since in Paradise. Even the blessed Saint Francis himself,
when, at the Council of Mats, he portioned out among his followers the
heathen world that they might preach everywhere Christianity, reserved
for himself Syria and Egypt; in the hope that in one or the other of
those countries he might crown his labors by suffering a glorious
martyrdom. And perhaps in this matter Fray Antonio was not unmindful of
the example set him by the great founder of the Order to which he
belonged.
But while we were thus firmly decided to keep to ourselves the honors
that so great an archæological discovery and so great a Christian
conquest must bring to us severally, we perceived that it would not be
the part of prudence to essay our adventure without any companions at
all. Some portion of the country through which we were to pass we knew
to be frequented by very dangerous tribes of Indians, against the
assaults of which two lonely men--neither of whom had any knowledge
whatever of the art of war--could make but a poor stand. And even should
we escape the wild Indians, we knew that we might get into many evil
straits in which our lives might be ended, yet through which a larger
company might pass in safety. And for my own part, I must confess that I
had a strong desire to have with me some of my own countrymen. For the
gallantry of the Mexicans, which gallantry has been proved a thousand
times, I have the highest respect; yet is it a natural feeling among
Anglo-Saxons that when it comes to facing dangers in which death looms
largely, and especially when it comes to a few men against a company of
savages, and standing back to back and fighting to the very last,
Anglo-Saxon hearts are found to be the stanchest, and Anglo-Saxon backs
to be the stoutest which can be thus ranged together. But in our own
case I did not at all see whence such an Anglo-Saxon contingent was to
be obtained.
We had been talking over this matter of a fighting force one afternoon
in Fray Antonio's sacristy--where our many colloquies were held, for we
moved with a thoughtful deliberation in setting agoing our
adventure--and we had come almost to the determination of organizing a
little force of Otomí Indians, and calling upon two brave young
gentlemen of Fray Antonio's acquaintance to join us as lieutenants.
Although I was willing to adopt this plan, since no other was open to
us, I was far from fancying it; both for the reason which I have already
named, and also for the reason--and this Fray Antonio admitted was not
without foundation in probability--that our young allies would be more
than likely, by their indiscreet disclosures, to make our purpose fully
known. Therefore, it was in no very pleasant frame of mind, our
conference being ended, that I returned to my hotel.
As I entered the hotel court-yard I heard the sound of Pablo's
mouth-organ, and with this much laughter and some talk in English; and
as I fairly caught sight of the merrymakers, I heard said, in most
execrable Spanish, "Here's a _medio_ for another tune, my boy; and if
you'll make the donkey dance again to it, I'll give you a _real_."
That I might see what was going forward without interrupting it, I
stepped behind one of the stone pillars that upheld the gallery; and for
all that my mind was in no mood for laughter just then, I could not but
fall to laughing at what I saw.
Over on the far side of the court-yard, with Pablo and El Sabio, were
two men whose type was so unmistakable that I should have known them for
Americans had I met them in the moon. One was a tall, wiry fellow, with
a vast reach of arm, and a depth of chest and width of shoulders which
allowed what powerful engines those long arms of his were when he set
them in motion. His face was nearly covered by a heavy black beard, and
his projecting forehead and his resolute black eyes under it gave him a
look of great energy and force. The other was short and thick-set, with
a big round head stockily upheld on a thick neck, and with a
good-humored face, which, being clean-shaven, was chiefly notable for
the breadth and the squareness of the jaws. He had merry blue eyes, and
his crown--he was holding his battered Derby hat in his hand--was as
bare as a billiard ball. Below timber-line, as he himself expressed it,
he had a brush of close-cut sandy-red hair. I had encountered both of
these men when I first came to Morelia, and during two or three weeks I
had seen a good deal of them, for we had met daily at our meals; and the
more that I had seen of them the better was I disposed to like them. The
tall man was Rayburn, a civil engineer in charge of construction on the
advanced line of the new railway; the other was Young, the lost-freight
agent of the railroad company--whose duty, for which his keen quickness
peculiarly well fitted him, was that of looking up freight which had
gone astray in transit. Both of those men had lived long in rough and
dangerous regions, and both--as I then instinctively believed, and as I
came later to know fully--were as true and as stanch and as brave as
ever men could be.
What they were laughing at, there in the court-yard, was an
extraordinary performance in which the performers were Pablo and El
Sabio. With a grin all over the parts of his face not engaged in the
operation of his mouth-organ, Pablo was rendering on that instrument a
highly Mexicanized version of one of the airs from _Pinafore_ that he
had just acquired from hearing Young whistle it. To this music, with a
most pained yet determined expression, the Wise One was lifting his feet
and swaying his body and nodding his head in a sort of accompaniment,
his movements being directed by the waving of Pablo's disengaged hand.
The long ears of this unfortunate little donkey wagged in remonstrance
against the unreasonable motions demanded of his unlucky legs, and every
now and then he would twitch viciously his fuzzy scrap of a tail; but
his master was inexorable, and it was not until Pablo's own desire to
laugh became so strong that he no longer could play the mouth-organ that
El Sabio was given rest. As he ended his dancing I must say that there
was on El Sabio's face as fine an expression of contempt as the face of
a donkey ever wore.
"Hello, Professor!" Young called out, as he caught sight of me, "have
you given up antiquities an' gone into th' circus business? This outfit
that you've got here will make your fortune when you get it back into
th' States. If you don't want to run it yourself, I'll run it for you
on th' shares; an' I guess Rayburn'll be glad t' go along as clown. He'd
make a good clown, Rayburn would. You see, we're both of us out of work,
an' both lookin' for a job."
"What do you mean by being out of work?" I asked, when I had shaken
hands with them. "What's become of the railroad?"
"Oh, th' railroad's got into one of its periodical bust-ups," Young
answered. "A row among the bondholders, an' construction stopped, an'
working expenses reduced, an' pretty much all hands bounced, from th'
president down. I guess Rayburn an' I can stand th' racket, though, if
th' company can. I've been wantin' t' get out of this d----d Greaser
country for a good while, an' I guess now I've got my chance. I must
say, though, I wish it had come a little less sudden, for I haven't
anything in particular in sight over in God's country, an' Rayburn
hasn't either. So if you want to start your circus we're ready for you
right away. Where did you get that boy-an'-donkey outfit from, anyway?
They're just daisies, both of 'em an' no mistake!"
"I don't know that you can count on me for a clown, Professor," Rayburn
said, "but I might go along as door-keeper, or something of that sort.
But I don't believe that Young and I will need to go into the circus
business. We are out of work, that's a fact; but the company has done
the square thing by us--paid us up in full to the end of next month and
fitted us out with passes to St. Louis. We're all right. Young is
heading straight for home, but I rather think that I'll take a turn
around the country and see what the civilized parts of it look like.
Ever since I came down here, nearly, I've been at work in the wilds. I
want to see some of the old temples and things too. You can put me up to
that, Professor. Where's a good ruin to begin on?"
From the moment that I laid eyes on these two men, as I came into the
court-yard, my mind was made up that I would do my best to induce them
to join with Fray Antonio and me in our search for the hidden city; and
I had listened very gladly to what they told me, for it showed me that I
should not have to ask them to abandon profitable work in order to join
in our doubtful enterprise. So we talked lightly about the circus and
other indifferent matters for a while; and then we had a lively supper
together at La Soledad (which always seemed to me a very original name
for a restaurant), and then I brought them to my room to smoke their
cigars.
It was while they were in the comfortable frame of mind that is begotten
of a good meal and subsequent good tobacco--over there in Morelia we
smoked the Tepic cigars, which are excellent--that I opened to them the
great project that I had in hand. I told them frankly the whole story:
of my strange adventure in the Indian village, of the paper and the gold
token which the Cacique unwittingly had given me, of the letter that
Fray Antonio had found, and of how our joint discoveries set us clearly
in the way of finding an Aztec community that certainly had existed
unchanged, save for such changes as had been developed within itself,
since a time long anterior to the Spanish conquest of Mexico. I dwelt
with enthusiasm, and I think forcibly, upon the inestimable gain to the
science of archæology that would result from the investigations that we
intended to make; and I touched also upon the scientific value that
would attach to a careful and accurate description of the effect
produced upon this primitive community by Fray Antonio's preaching; for
this would be, as I pointed out, the first occasion in the history of
the world when a record would be made, from the stand-point of the
unprejudiced ethnologist, of the reception accorded by a heathen people
to the doctrine of Christianity. In a word, I presented the case most
glowingly--so glowingly, in fact, that my own heart was quite fired by
it--and ended by urging them earnestly to join us in a work that
promised so greatly to increase the sum of human knowledge touching the
most interesting subjects that can be presented to the consideration of
the human mind. And I am pained to state that I discovered, when I
finished my appeal, that Young was sound asleep!
Rayburn did not go to sleep, and he did take a certain amount of
interest in what I said, but I was discouraged by his very obvious
failure to respond to my enthusiasm.
"You see, Professor," he said, "the fact of the matter is that I can't
spare the time. I might take a month or two, but you seem to think that
a year is the least time in which any substantial results can he
accomplished. I can't give a year, or anything like a year, to what, so
far as I am concerned, will be sheer idleness. I've got a mother and
sister at home on Cape Cod who depend on me for a living, and I must get
to work again. You see, there is glory enough in all this, and glory
that I should like to have a share in; but glory is a luxury that I
can't afford. I've got to go to work at something that has money in it."
The sound of Rayburn's voice had the effect on Young of waking him up.
He listened, in a sleepily approving way, to Rayburn's practical
comment, and then, giving a prodigious yawn, added, on his own account:
"Yes, that's about the size of it. We're neither of us here for our
health, Professor; what we're after is spot cash. If there was any money
in your scheme I'd take a hand in it quick enough; but as there
isn't--Well, not this evening, Professor; some other evening."
"No money in it!" I answered. "Why, haven't I told you that there is
stored in this hidden city the greatest treasure that ever was brought
into one place since the world began?"
"No, I'll be d----d if you have!" Young replied, with great energy and
promptness. "Not a word, unless it was while I was asleep. What's he
said about a treasure, Rayburn? I'm awake now, an' I'll keep awake if
there's anything like that to be talked about."
"You certainly haven't said anything about a treasure so far,
Professor," Rayburn said. "I'd like to hear about it myself. If there is
a treasure-hunting expedition mixed up with this scientific expedition
of yours, that puts a new face on the whole matter. I can't afford the
luxury of scientific investigation pure and simple, but if there is
money in it too, that is quite another thing. So tell us about your
prospect, Professor, and if the surface indications are good you can
count on me to go in."
I confess that I was a trifle disappointed upon finding how eagerly
these young men sought information in regard to a matter that I
considered so unimportant that I had forgotten even to mention it. But I
reflected that, after all, the motive by which they were induced to join
in our adventure was immaterial, while our need for the strength that
their joining in it would give us was so pressing that upon gaining them
for allies very likely depended our eventual success. Being moved by
which considerations, I dilated upon the magnitude of the hidden
treasure with such vehemence that presently their eyes were flashing,
and the blood had so mounted into their brains that their very foreheads
were ruddy and their breath came short. And I must confess that my own
pulses beat quicker and harder as I talked on. Of this treasure I had
not before thought at all, being so thoroughly taken up with the
scientific side of the discovery that I hoped to accomplish; but now I
was moved profoundly by thoughts of what I could do for the advancement
of science had I practically limitless wealth at my command. And
especially was I thrilled by the thought of the magnificent form in
which my own magnificent discoveries could be given to the world.
Compared with my _Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent of North
America_, Lord Kingsborough's great work, both in form and in substance,
would sink into hopeless insignificance. And in all that I said of the
vastness of the hidden treasure I felt certain that I was keeping well
within the bounds of truth, for I had the positive assurance that in the
Aztec treasure-house in that hidden valley the ransom of a nation was
stored.
"Will you go with us?" I asked, when I had brought my glowing
description to an end.
"Well, I should smile, Professor," was Young's characteristic answer.
"You can count me in now, and no mistake!" said Rayburn, and added, "By
Jove, Palgrave, I mean to take a part of my share and buy the whole of
Cape Cod!"
And so the make-up of our party was decided upon. Fray Antonio joined it
for the love of God; I joined it for the love of science; and Young and
Rayburn joined it for the love of gold. In regard to the boy Pablo, he
could not strictly be said to have joined it at all. He simply went
along.
VI.
THE KING'S SYMBOL.
Fray Antonio was well pleased when I told him of the stout contingent
that I had secured; and when he had seen Rayburn and Young, and had
talked with them--though his talk with Young did not amount to much, for
Young's Spanish was abominable--he was as thoroughly satisfied as I was
that for our purposes we could not possibly have found two better men.
In the course of this conference we made short work of our preparations
for departure. Rayburn's experience in fitting out engineering parties
had given him precisely the knowledge required for putting our own
little party promptly and effectively in the field; and in this matter,
and in all practical matters connected with the expedition, he took the
lead. He and Young already possessed the regulation frontier outfit of
arms--a Winchester rifle and a big revolver--which they increased by
another big revolver apiece; and I armed myself similarly with a pair of
revolvers and a Winchester: concerning the use that I should make of
which, in case need for using them arose, I had very grave doubts
indeed. Fray Antonio declined to carry any arms at all; and after he had
accidentally discharged one of my pistols, which he had picked up to
examine, so that the ball went singing by my ear and actually cut
through the brim of Young's hat, there was a general disposition to
admit that the less this godly man had to do with carnal weapons the
safer would it be for all the rest of us. Young's hat was a battered
Derby, and about as unsuitable a hat for wear in Mexico as possibly
could be found; but for some unknown reason he was very much attached to
that hat, and he was so wroth over having a hole shot through it in that
unprovoked sort of way that he manifested a decided coolness towards
Fray Antonio for several days.
In the matter of armament, the happiest member of our party was Pablo.
He was a handy boy, and when he had demonstrated his ability to manage a
revolver by doing some very creditable shooting with mine (at mark that
I had stuck up in the corral, in order that I might gain ease in the use
of this unknown weapon), I delighted him inexpressibly by buying him a
pistol for his very own. I think that Pablo, upon becoming the possessor
of that revolver, at once grew two inches taller. The way that he
strutted as he wore it, and his eager thrusting forward of his left hip,
so that this gallant piece of warlike furniture might be the most
conspicuous part of him, were a joy to witness. For a time his
mouth-organ was entirely neglected; and coming quietly into the corral
one day, I found him engaged in exhibiting the revolver to El Sabio; who
regarded it with a slightly bored expression that I do not think Pablo
took in good part.
Rayburn decided that our expedition could be made more effectively with
a small force than with a large one. He argued that unless we took into
the Indian country a really powerful body of men, we would be safer with
a very few: for a few of us would feel keenly the necessity of keeping
constantly on guard; could be more easily managed and held together in
running away; and in case a fight was forced upon us we would fight more
steadily because each of us would know surely that he could rely upon
the support of all the rest. Which reasoning we perceived to be so sound
that we promptly accepted it.
Rayburn added to our company, therefore, only three men: two Otomí
Indians of whom Fray Antonio gave a good account, and Dennis Kearney,
who had served as axeman on the recently disbanded engineering corps.
He was a merry soul, this Dennis, with a stock of Irish melodies in his
head that would have made the fortune of an old-time minstrel. He and
Pablo took to each other at once--though, since neither of them spoke a
word of the other's language, music was their only channel of
communication--and Pablo presently presented us with a rendering on his
mouth-organ, from a strictly Mexican stand-point, of "Rory O'More" that
quite took our breaths away. While Pablo played, Dennis would stand by
with his head cocked on one side, and with an air of attention as
closely critical as that which El Sabio himself exhibited; and when
Pablo went wrong, as he invariably did in his attempted _bravura_
passages, Dennis would stop him with a wave of his hand, and an "Aisy
now, me darlint! That's good enough Mexican, but it ain't good Irish at
all, at all," and then would show him what good Irish was by singing
"Rory O'More" in a fashion which made the old stone arches ring with a
volume of music that could have given odds to an entire brass band. Poor
Dennis! Only the other day I heard an organ-grinder grinding forth "Rory
O'More," and the memory of the last time I heard Dennis sing that song,
and of what heroic stuff that merry-hearted rough fellow then showed
himself to be made, came suddenly over me, and there was a choking in my
throat, and my eyes were full of tears.
Well, it was a good thing--or a bad thing, as you please to put it--that
we could not see far into the future that morning when we packed our
mules in the corral of the hotel, and set out upon the march that was
to lead us through such perilous passages before we reached its end.
[Illustration: PACKING IN THE CORRAL]
That I might fill to the brim the cup of Pablo's happiness--for my
conscience pricked me a little that I suffered him to go with us--I had
bought him the rain-coat of palm leaves for which his heart so long had
pined. What with this and his revolver, and the delight of going upon a
journey (for he had very fully developed that love of travel which is so
strong in his race), his wits seemed to be completely addled with joy.
He insisted upon putting on his absurd rain-coat at once; and he did so
many foolish things that even El Sabio looked at him reproachfully--this
was when he tried to place on that small donkey's back some of the heavy
pack-stuff destined for the back of one of the big mules--and we got
along much better with his room, as he presently enabled us to do, than
we did with his company. When the time for starting came, we had quite a
hunt for him; and we might not have found him at all had we not been
guided by the sound of music to the sequestered spot to which he had
retired in order to give vent to his pent-up feelings by playing on his
mouth-organ "Pop goes the weasel"--an air that Young had been whistling
that morning and that had mightily taken Pablo's fancy.
We made rather an imposing cavalcade as we filed forth from the great
gate of the hotel, and took our way along the Calle Nacional, the
principal street of the city, towards the Garita del Poniente. Fray
Antonio and I rode first; then came Rayburn and Young, followed by
Dennis Kearney; then the two pack-mules, beside which walked the two
Otomí Indians; and closing the procession came Pablo, wearing his
rain-coat, with his revolver strapped outside of it, and riding El Sabio
with a dignity that would have done honor to the Viceroy himself. Pablo
certainly was in the nature of an anti-climax; but I would not have told
him so for the world. Fray Antonio wore the habit of his Order, this
privilege having been specially granted to him by the Governor of the
State as a safeguard for all his expeditions among the Indians. It was
understood, indeed, that he now was going forth on one of his missionary
visits among the mountain tribes, and simply rode with us, so far as our
ways should lie together, for greater security. I had announced that I
was going among the Indians again in order to increase my knowledge of
their manners and customs; and Rayburn--to whom the rest of the party
was supposed to belong--had stated that he was taking the field in order
to make a new reconnaissance along the line of the projected railway. It
was in order to maintain these several fictions that we went out by the
western gate, and that we continued for two days our march westward
before turning to our true course.
Of our progress during the ensuing fortnight it is not necessary that I
should speak, for beyond the ordinary incidents of travel no adventures
befell us. During this period we went forward steadily and rapidly; and
at the end of it we had covered more than three hundred miles, and had
come close to where--supposing our rendering of the Aztec map to be
correct, and that we had rightly collated it with the dead monk's
letter--the mission of Santa Marta had stood three centuries and a half
before. There was no possibility that any trace of this mission would be
found; but every rock that we came to was most eagerly scrutinized, for
on any one of them might we find the King's symbol engraved.
For two or three days we had been travelling through a region very wild
and desolate. Far away along the western horizon rose a range of
mountains whose bare peaks cut a jagged line along the sky. The country
between us and these far-away mountains was made up of many parallel
ranges of rocky hills; which ranges were separated by broad, shallow
valleys, where cactus and sage-brush covered the dry ground thickly; and
the only trees that broke this dreary monotony were pita-palms, the most
dismal thing in all created nature to which the name of a tree ever has
been given by man. There was no trail, and travelling through this
tangle of briers was very difficult. All of Rayburn's skill, which long
practice had developed to a high degree, was required to enable us to
pick a way through so thorny a wilderness. At times the Indians with
their _machetes_, and Dennis with his axe, had to cut a path for us; and
despite all our care, our own hands were cut and torn, and the legs of
our poor beasts were red with blood.
The deadly dryness of this arid waste added to our discomfort. A strong
dry wind blew steadily from the north, building up out of fine dust
which was over all the surface of the baked ground little
whirl-winds--_remolinos_, as the Mexicans call them--which went dancing
down the valleys as though they were ghostly things; and occasionally,
when one of these struck us, we were covered with a prickly dust that
fairly burned our skins. What water we got was to be had only by digging
in the _arroyos_ which traversed the centre of each valley
longitudinally; and although this water always was muddy, and had a
strongly alkaline taste, it is the only thing that I remember with
pleasure in all that weary laud. Of animal life there was nothing to be
seen, save a-plenty of rattlesnakes; and a few great buzzards which
wheeled above us from time to time as though with the intention of
keeping track of us until we should fall down and die of thirst and
weariness, and they should be able to feast upon us at their ease.
At the end of the third day of this dreary travelling we had come close
to the great western range of mountains, and our camp that night was
made in the mouth of a little valley that opened from among the
foot-hills. The night before we had made a dry camp, and for the whole
of the twenty-four hours we had had but a pint of water apiece. Pablo, I
am sure, had given half of his own scant allowance to El Sabio. The
other animals--it was all that we could do for them--had only their
dusty mouths and nostrils wiped out with a wet sponge. They were
pitiable objects, with their bleeding legs, their haggard eyes, their
out-hanging tongues, and their quivering flanks. As Fray Antonio
unsaddled his horse I saw that there were tears in his eyes; but the
rest of us, I fear, were too thoughtful of our own misery to feel much
sorrow for the misery of our beasts.
I suppose that a man must suffer the lack of it, as we then did, in
order to know how precious a thing water is. And to give some notion of
its preciousness to those who not only are free at any time to drink
their fill of it, but even can fill bath-tubs with it, and feel the joy
of it on their bare bodies whenever they are so minded, I will say that
when a little digging gave us that night as much water as we wanted, our
joy was far greater than it would have been had we there found the
hidden city of which we were in search.
Our well was sunk in the broad sandy bottom of the _arroyo_, in the
midst of a narrow and delectably grassy valley between two foot-hills.
And the abundance and the sweetness of the water, as well as the
presence of grass, showed us that but a little way up this valley there
must be an open stream. We drank, and our beasts drank, until all of our
skins were nigh to bursting; and the abundance of water was so great
that we even could wash the dust at last from our parched faces and
necks and arms; and much like raw beef our skins looked when our washing
was ended, and the stinging of them was as though we had been whipped
with nettles. It was our intention now to leave the plains and to march
along the edge of the foot-hills parallel with the main range, otherwise
we should not have ventured thus to wash ourselves. In a region where
alkali dust is in the air, washing is to be shunned; for each time that
the skin is cleaned the new deposit of dust takes a deeper biting hold.
It was rather that we might escape the misery of further travel on the
arid plains than because we had any strong hopes of thus finding the way
of which we were in search that we had decided to change our line of
march. Young had begun openly to express his contempt for the Aztec map,
and in the hearts of all of us had sprung up some doubts as to its
trustworthiness as a guide. After all, it was not in the least a map in
the true meaning of the word; and that it should show us rightly our way
depended not only upon our having interpreted correctly its curious
symbolism, but also upon the correctness of the interpretation that
Mexican archæologists had given to the map of the first Aztec
migration--of which map, as we believed, our map was a reserved and
secret part. If either interpretation were wrong, then we might be
hundreds of miles distant from the region in which the way marked by
gravings of the King's symbol should be sought.
Four or five hours of daylight still remained to us after we had dug our
well, and with the delicious water flowing into it had satisfied our
thirst; but we had no intention of going farther that day. We had no
need to hobble the animals, for they could be trusted to stay near the
water-hole while they feasted on the grass, and we needed food and rest
quite as much as they did. Young and Dennis together got us up a famous
meal, and when it was ended we lighted our pipes and held a sort of
council of war. That we might talk the more freely, in both English and
Spanish, we drew away a little from where the two Otomí Indians and
Pablo were stretched out upon the grass together; and we bade Dennis
take a look around the shoulder of the first hill, so that we might know
something of what our way would be like when we started in the morning;
for we were not as yet ready that the minor members of the expedition
should know the purpose that we had in mind. We had decided that when,
by the finding of the course indicated by the gravings of the King's
symbol, our quest fairly had a beginning, being no longer a matter of
mere hope and conjecture, we then would give Dennis and Pablo and the
two Indians some notion of what we intended doing; with the option of
deciding for themselves whether or not they would have a part in it. And
the thought never once occurred to our minds that circumstances might
arise of such a nature that neither they nor we would have any choice in
the matter at all.
As we consulted together we had spread out before us a map of Mexico,
and with this the map that the Cacique had given me, and a copy of the
map showing the great Aztec march. Yet the more that we councilled the
less could we come to any reasonable conclusion as to what was best for
us to do. As nearly as we could tell from the strange guides that we
needs must be led by, we had beaten thoroughly the region where once the
mission of Santa Marta was; and not a trace of the gravings on the rocks
had we found. To go over this region again, searching still more
minutely, was too great an undertaking even to be thought of; and yet
the only alternative to this painful course seemed to be that we should
abandon our search altogether; in short, we were completely at sea.
"What _I_ think," said Young, "is that that old dead monk, an' that old
dead Cacique, have set up a job on us. They're both of 'em lyin' like
fiddlers; that's what's th' matter with _them_. There ain't any hidden
city, or hidden treasure, or hidden d----n anything; it's all a fraud
from beginnin' t' end. I vote t' pull up stakes an' go home."
A cool refreshing wind was beginning to sweep down to us from the
mountains; but it was blowing only in puffs as yet, for the night would
not be upon us for several hours. Borne faintly and fitfully upon this
uncertain wind came to us the strains of "Rory O'More"; with which
melody, as we inferred, Dennis was beguiling his solitude while he
explored the route that we were to take the next day. Pablo, sitting
comfortably on the grass, his back propped against the back of El Sabio,
also caught the sound; and straightway began to play an accompaniment on
his mouth-organ to Dennis's distant singing. The strains gradually grew
louder, showing that Dennis was returning; but when they stopped
suddenly we thought that he had only tired of the sound of his own
voice, or, perhaps, did not think anything about the matter at all.
But when a sound of hurried, irregular steps came down the wind to us,
we all were on our feet in a moment and had our arms ready, for it was
evident that Dennis was running from something; and the danger was
likely to be a serious one, for running was not at all in Dennis's line.
We wondered why he did not call out; but the explanation of his silence
was plain enough, ten seconds later, as he came around the shoulder of
the hill, staggered in among us, and fell on the grass at our feet--with
the blood streaming from his mouth and nostrils, and with an arrow clear
through his breast.
"Indians!" he gasped, with an effort that brought a torrent of blood
spurting from his mouth; and he added, faintly, "But I've bate 'em, th'
divvils, in their hopes of a soorprise!"
These triumphant words were the last that Dennis Kearney uttered on
earth. As he spoke, a fresh outburst of blood came from his nostrils and
mouth, a quiver went over him--and then he was dead. I do not believe
that many men would have done what Dennis did: run a good quarter of a
mile with an arrow through his lungs, and then die exulting because he
had succeeded in warning the camp.
Rayburn had the situation instantly in hand. "Get the packs and saddles
on quick!" he cried. "The Indians 'll come around that hill and try to
scoop us here in the open. They won't close in; they'll keep off, and
just lie around for a week till we're played out, and then they'll step
in and finish us; they'll do that, likely enough, anyway. But our one
chance is to get to a place up the valley here, where they can tackle us
only from in front. There's water up there, so we'll be all right, and
we may be able to shoot enough of them to make the rest give it up, or
they'll close in, and we'll have the comfort of getting the whole thing
ended without any useless fooling over it."
All the while that he spoke he was working away, and so were we all, at
saddling and packing; and, luckily, the animals, although the water and
the food and the rest had put new strength into them, still were too
tired to give us the trouble that animals give at such times when they
are fresh. In a surprisingly short time we were ready to start; and yet
not a sign had we had, save the warning that Dennis had brought us, that
there was an Indian within a hundred miles of us. Indeed, but for his
dead body on the ground beside our camp-fire, we might have imagined
that our scare was only a bad dream. That it was a very bad reality was
shown just as the last pack went on, when one of our Otomí Indians gave
a howl as an arrow went through his leg, and I felt a sharp little nip
on my forehead where an arrow just grazed it, and there was that queer,
faint whirring sound in the air that only a flight of a good many arrows
together will produce.
Rayburn took the body of poor Dennis before him on his own horse; he'd
be d----d if the Indians should get Dennis yet, he said; and away we
went up the sandy bed of the _arroyo_, driving the mules before us, and
the Otomí Indians pelting along on a dead-run. The Indian who had been
hit coolly broke the arrow off short, and then pulled it out through the
wound.
Suddenly we saw Young, who was riding a little ahead of the rest of us,
half pull up his horse and look earnestly at a great shoulder of rock
that jutted out from the mountain-side. "There's your King's symbol,
and be d----d to it!" he shouted; and added, "What's the good of a
King's symbol when we're all goin' to lose our hair?"
He was under full head-way again in a moment. As we shot past the rock we
all turned to look; and there, sure enough, was the long-sought-for
sign.
VII.
THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON.
As we fled along the valley, and in a few moments heard the sound of the
Indians pursuing us, my mind was chiefly occupied with considerations of
the quality which we denominate fear. I perceived that this purely
occasional passion had a very direct bearing upon my own especial
science of archæology. I reflected that had I been engaged in building a
city at the moment when that irritating flight of arrows fell among
us----the sting of one of which I still felt smarting upon my
forehead----I should assuredly have ceased at once the building of that
city, and should have moved rapidly away. And thus an excellently
well-built city, that would have delighted archæologists of the future,
would have been lost to the world. Putting the matter yet more closely:
here I had just found the sign for which I and my companions had been
toilsomely searching for a considerable time; the sign which
unquestionably would lead us to the most interesting archæological
discovery that ever had been made. And yet, instead of stopping to
study this sign earnestly, that I might understand all the meaning of
it, I was hastening away from it with all possible speed; and for no
better reason than that certain barbarians, whose knowledge of
archæology was not even rudimentary, were pursuing me that they might
take my life--an imperfectly expressed concept, by-the-way; for life can
be taken only in the limited sense of depriving another of it; it cannot
be taken in the full sense of deprivation and acquisition combined.
These several reflections so stirred my bile against the Indians in
pursuit of us that I began to have a curiously blood-thirsty longing for
our actual battling with them to begin; for I was possessed by a most
unscientific desire to balance our account by killing several of them.
And I confess that this desire was increased as I looked at the dead
body of poor Dennis, lying limply across the fore-shoulders of Rayburn's
horse.
It was with real satisfaction, therefore, that I obeyed Rayburn's order
to halt, that we might make ready for the fight to begin. The valley up
which we had been riding had narrowed by this time into a strait way
shut in between high and nearly perpendicular walls; and the place that
Rayburn had chosen for us to make our stand in was the mouth of a cañon
setting off from the valley nearly at right angles. The walls of this
cañon came almost together above, far overhanging their bases, so that
assault from overhead was impossible; some fragments of fallen rock made
a natural breastwork for us to fight behind; and a little stream of
pure, sweet water flowed at our feet. Had this place been made for us
expressly it could not better have suited our purposes; and finding it
so opportunely put fresh heart into us. There was not, of course, a
shadow of resemblance between the two, but, somehow, I fancied that the
place where we stood resembled my old class-room at Ann Arbor; and I
actually found myself repeating the opening sentence of the address that
I delivered when I was formally inducted into the Chair of Topical
Linguistics. I mention this fact not because it is of the slightest
importance in this present narrative, but because I think that it well
illustrates the tendency towards illogical association that is so
curious a characteristic of the human mind.
I was not able to observe this phenomenon attentively, for Rayburn
hustled us all about so sharply that I had no available time just then
for abstract thought. The mules and the horses and El Sabio were driven
into the cañon, and we were ranged behind the fragments of rock almost
in a moment. Each man had his Winchester and revolvers in readiness, and
a couple of cases of cartridges had been broken out from the packs and
put where we all had easy access to them. While this work was going
forward we could hear the Indians coming hotly up the valley, and we
were barely ready for them when the foremost of their party came in
sight.
"Wait a little," said Rayburn, quietly. "They don't know which turn
we've taken, and they'll probably get into a bunch to do some talking,
and then we can whack away right into the flock."
While we were thus making ready I could see that Fray Antonio was in
great distress of mind. He was a very brave man, and I know that his
strong desire was to fight with the rest of us. And yet, just as the
Indians showed themselves, he deliberately turned his back upon them and
walked away into the cañon's depths. His very lips were white, and there
were beads of sweat upon his brow, and I saw that his fingers twitched
convulsively. I know what he wanted to do, and I saw what he did. If
ever a man showed the high bravery of moral courage, Fray Antonio showed
it then. Even Young, in whom I did not look for appreciation of bravery
of that sort, said afterwards that it was the pluckiest thing he ever
saw.
As Rayburn had expected, the Indians halted--but keeping more under
cover than he had counted upon--and held some sort of a council. But it
did not seem, from what we could see of their gestures, to relate to the
way that we might have taken so much as to the cañon in which we
actually were concealed. They pointed towards the mouth of the cañon
repeatedly, and it struck me that in their motions there was a curious
indication of dread or awe. One old man was especially vehement in
gestures of this unaccountable nature; and when at last the younger men
in the council seemed to revolt against his orders, this man, and all
the older men with him, retired down the valley whence they had come.
[Illustration: THE FIGHT IN THE CAÑON]
The young men, left to themselves, hesitated for a moment, and then with
a cry--as though for their own encouragement--came charging towards us
in a body. As we got a full view of them we perceived with much
satisfaction that their only arms were bows and arrows and long spears,
and that there were not more than twenty men in the lot. And then
Rayburn gave the order to fire. I confess that my hand so trembled as I
pulled the trigger of my rifle that I was not at all surprised to find
that the man whom I had fired at--a very tall, powerful young fellow,
who seemed to be in command--was not hit; but a man just behind him
dropped, and I had a queer feeling in my throat, and certain odd
sensations in my stomach, as I realized that I had shot him. Indeed, I
was so engrossed with meditations upon the curious ease with which a
man's life is let out of him, that I quite forgot for some seconds to
continue firing. The others, luckily, conducted themselves in a more
practical manner; and the little whirlwind of balls which sped from the
Winchesters made it wonderful, not that so many of the Indians fell dead
or wounded, as that any of them remained alive and unhurt. But eight of
them did survive their charge in the face of the storm of bullets that
we pelted at them; and these--headed by the tall fellow, who seemed
bullet-proof--came rushing at us over our breastwork of rocks, shouting
and flourishing their long spears.
I cannot say very accurately what happened during the next five minutes
or so, for one of the Indians came directly at me, and before I could at
all stop him--for I found that shooting at him with my revolver did him
no harm at all; and this struck me as odd, for I had repeatedly hit the
mark while practising in the corral--he had prodded his spear through
the fleshy part of my left arm. It hurt severely. He had aimed his
thrust, doubtless, at my heart, and he certainly would have penetrated
that vital organ had I not at that moment slipped, and so disarranged
his aim. He pulled the spear out of my arm, which action also gave me
great pain, and his manner indicated that he was about to thrust it into
some other part of me; which he surely could have done, for I was wholly
at a loss as to what measures should be taken to assure my own safety.
Indeed, I was very well convinced that my life was as good as ended, and
a curious flash of thought went through me that I cannot coherently
remember, but that was in the nature of a query as to whether or not in
a future state the many scientific truths which as yet are but
imperfectly understood will be wholly revealed to us.
However, the opportunity that I confidently expected would be given to
me in a moment to obtain an answer to this interesting question did not
then occur. Just as the Indian was lunging at me--I can see his ugly
face now, as I close my eyes and let my thoughts turn backward to that
critical moment--there was a flash of some bright object before me, and
then the Indian's entire head seemed to shut up suddenly, something like
an opera-glass, and he went down to the ground like a stone. As I
turned, I saw that my deliverance had come from Pablo, and even in that
very exciting moment I observed with astonishment that the weapon with
which he had slain the Indian was a great jagged sword--if the
_maccuahuitl_ can be called a sword--such as the Aztecs used in ancient
times. I could not then conveniently stop to question him whence he had
obtained that very interesting weapon, for there was another Indian
already close upon me; and I am pleased to say--for I do not wish the
belief to go abroad that scientific men are worse than useless in
practical emergencies--that, without assistance from Pablo or from
anybody else, I managed to pick up my rifle, and with the heavy iron
barrel of that weapon, used clubwise, I mashed the head of that Indian
into a perfect pulp. I know positively that I mashed it into a pulp, for
I tried afterwards to measure it, and found that for craniological
purposes it was utterly valueless.
Even had I required Pablo's aid in this encounter he could not possibly
have given it to me, for he was himself just then very hotly engaged.
Indeed, but for assistance that come to him from an unexpected quarter
his life assuredly would have been lost. He was in the act of hauling
back to strike at the fellow facing him, and he did not at all know that
he was in imminent danger of a thrust in the back from a wounded wretch
who, having struggled upon his knees, was using what little life was
left in him to deliver yet another blow. Just at this critical instant
it was that Fray Antonio dashed into the thick of the fighting, and
covered Pablo's body with his own against this assault in the rear; so
that, as the Indian struck, the knife only cut through the monk's habit
and slightly scratched his arm, instead of making a hole between Pablo's
shoulder-blades that would have let the life out of him. Young, who was
close beside Pablo, saw what was going on, and checked it before further
harm was done by turning quickly and shooting off the top of the wounded
Indian's head; and then Fray Antonio retired out of the fighting in
which, without himself striking a blow, he had taken so gallant a part.
So far as I was concerned, the fight was at an end when I had so
cleverly mashed the head of my second assailant. No more Indians came at
me, and as I looked around I perceived that this was for the excellent
reason that there were no more to come. Two were just advancing on
Young; who had them covered with his revolver, and dropped them, one
after the other, in less time than is required to tell about it. The
only other survivor among the enemy--at least the only one able to keep
his feet--was the tall young chief, and he and Rayburn were just
finishing the last round of what probably was as fine a fight as ever
was fought. They were well matched in size and in weight; and if the
Indian was any stronger than Rayburn, I can only say that he must have
been a most wonderfully strong man. They were fighting on even terms;
for the Indian was armed only with a short club, that he held in his
left hand--and this left-handed method made him all the more awkward to
deal with--while Rayburn, having emptied his revolver, was using as a
club its heavy barrel.
As I caught sight of them, the Indian was in the act of springing
forward and delivering a tremendous blow; but Rayburn most skilfully
parried this blow by throwing out his rifle, still retained in his left
hand, in such a manner and with such force that the Indian's arm--at
the same time striking and being struck with the iron barrel--was broken
just above the wrist. He gave a yell of pain, as he well might; but he
was a plucky fellow, and instead of dropping his club he only shifted it
to his right hand. He never had a chance to strike again with it; for in
that same instant Rayburn swung his revolver at arm's-length through the
air and brought it down on his head with a sound so muffled and so
hollow that I can liken it only to the staving-in of the head of a full
cask. For a moment, while Rayburn drew back to strike again, the
Indian's body swayed heavily; and then all his muscles relaxed, and he
fell heavily and limply to the ground--while his brains spurted out from
the ghastly trench made by that mighty blow from back to front across
the entire top of his skull.
VIII.
AFTER THE FIGHT.
Rayburn stood panting for a moment over the Indian's body; and then,
having satisfied himself by a look around among our fallen enemies that
every one of them was either dead or dying, he stooped down beside the
stream to drink from it, and then to bathe an ugly gash in his forehead
made by a spear thrust that luckily had glanced aside.
Indeed, we all had wounds or bruises by which we were likely to
remember our fight for a good many days to come. In addition to the cut
on his forehead, Rayburn had an arm badly bruised by a crack from a
club; Young had a cut in the calf of his leg that must have been made by
one of the Indians after he had fallen wounded; Fray Antonio had the
slight cut in his arm that he received in rescuing Pablo; a blow from a
club on my shoulder had completely disabled my left arm, and my head was
beginning to ache from the wound in my forehead where the arrow had
nipped me; and Pablo, by a square knock-down blow on the head that
tumbled him among the rocks, had a bad gash in his cheek and was bruised
all over. And yet the very first thing that boy did when the fight was
ended--being still dazed, no doubt, by the blow on his head--was to play
a bit of "Rory O'More" on his mouth-organ in order to make sure that his
beloved "instrumentito" had not been injured by his fall. The sound of
this air gave my heart a wrench, as I thought of poor Dennis; whose
gallant race with death assuredly had saved all of us from dying without
a chance to strike a blow. And both of our Otomí Indians were dead too.
But while we had suffered thus severely we had the satisfaction of
knowing that we had inflicted a most signal punishment upon our enemies.
Of the whole company that had attacked us--eighteen in number, as we
found by counting their bodies--only two remained alive when the fight
ended; and these two speedily relieved us of all responsibility
concerning them by dying of their wounds. As Young tersely expressed
it, we had "given the whole outfit a through bill of lading to Kingdom
Come!"
Notwithstanding the pain that I was in, the first thought that came to
me after we had achieved peace (by the effective yet somewhat radical
process of killing all of our enemies) was concerning the strange weapon
with which Pablo had been fighting; and by his prompt use of which in my
defence my life had been saved. He had laid it upon a rock--while
testing the integrity of his mouth-organ--and as I now carefully
examined it I found that my glimpse of it as Pablo had mashed the
Indian's head had not deceived me. It truly was a maccuahuitl, the
primitive Aztec sword, but very unlike any description of that weapon
that I had ever seen. The maccuahuitl, as described by the Spaniards at
the time of the conquest and as shown by the Aztec pictures of it
preserved in various museums, was a wooden blade from three and a half
to four feet long and from four to five inches wide. Along its two
edges, like great saw teeth, fragments of obsidian, about three inches
long and two inches wide, were inserted; and as these were keenly sharp
the weapon was a most ferocious one. The sword that I held in my hand
was identical in its essential features with this primitive design; but
it was shorter, narrower, and thinner. What was still more extraordinary
about it was that, while it seemed to be made of brass, it had the
bright glitter of gold and the temper and the elasticity of steel. Being
tested by bending, it instantly sprung straight again; and
notwithstanding the vigorous use that Pablo had been making of it on the
bones of several Indians, the thin edges of the projecting teeth were
only nicked a little--as the edge of a steel sword would have been
nicked under like circumstances--and not one of these teeth was bent out
of place, as assuredly would have been the case had the metal been
ordinary brass.
Fray Antonio, by this time, had returned to us again--looking rather
shamefaced because of the part that he had taken in the fight--and I
eagerly showed him this strange weapon that had been so strangely found;
for Pablo's account of it was simply that, just as his revolver was
emptied upon the Indians charging towards us, when there was no time to
reload, his eyes were caught by the glitter of the sword as it stuck in
a cleft in a rock; whereupon he most gladly seized it--and instantly
used it to good purpose upon the Indian was so close to ending me with
his spear, and subsequently contrived with it to send two more Indians
to their account.
Fray Antonio's knowledge of the matter having a wider practical range
than mine, for he knew well the contents of the several Mexican museums
in which specimens of the primitive weapons are preserved, I thought it
possible that he might be able to match this curious maccuahuitl with an
account of another like it which he somewhere had seen. That there was
no record in the books of this weapon made of metal I knew very well.
But Fray Antonio's surprise over it was greater than my own; and he
certainly found more in it to please him than I did; for this metal
maccuahuitl, supposing it to belong to ancient times, settled in his
favor a controversy that for some time past we had been amicably but
earnestly carrying on. I had adopted the ingenious theory of my friend
Bandelier that the serrated edge of the Aztec sword was accidental;
resulting from the breaking away in use of portions of what at first was
a continuous edge of obsidian. Fray Antonio, on the other hand, had held
firmly to the ordinarily accepted opinion that the sword was such as I
have described above (I must confess regretfully) the primitive weapon
to have been.
My contention therefore was that the sword that Pablo had found was not
an antique; and I fortified my position, as I considered impregnably, by
the fact that while Aztecs, before the Spanish conquest, did make some
slight use of copper and gold, they assuredly had no knowledge whatever
of either brass or steel. And my natural irritation very well may be
imagined, by any one familiar with controversies of this nature, when I
add that Fray Antonio endeavored to cut the ground from under me by
asserting that, inasmuch as the weapon obviously was not made of brass
or steel, my argument was based upon false premises and consequently led
to illogical conclusions. I am afraid that I showed a little temper on
this occasion; for Fray Antonio manifested a persistence in his defence
of what I regarded as his wholly untenable position that amounted to
what I held to be downright pig-headedness. And so, for a considerable
length of time, we stood there, among the bodies of the dead Indians,
and first one of us and then the other handled the sword, and expressed
with increasing warmth our views respecting it and each other; and we
might have stood there much longer had not Young--with the best of
intentions, no doubt, but in a way the certainly was not
agreeable--taken upon himself to bring our controversy for the time
being to an end.
"I don't exactly know what you and the Padre are jawing about at such a
rate, Professor," he struck in; "but as well as I can catch on, it's
about things which happened three or four hundred years ago. I don't
want to interrupt you, of course; but I do want the Padre--he knows
something about surgery, as I saw the other day when he took that cactus
thorn out of Pablo--to do something to plug up this hole in my leg. It's
bleeding a good deal, and it hurts like the very devil. And I guess
Rayburn'd be glad to have that slit in his forehead tied up too."
To do Fray Antonio justice, he took this interruption in better part
than I did; for I was deeply interested in the argument in which we were
engaged, and wished to continue it. But when I explained what Young
wanted, he turned to him at once, and very tenderly as well as very
skilfully dressed his wound; and then bandaged the gash in Rayburn's
forehead, and the cut in Pablo's cheek. Pablo decidedly objected to this
bandaging, for it put a peremptory stop for a while to his playing on
his mouth-organ. For me no surgery was required. Fray Antonio carefully
felt my shoulder while he moved my arm--thereby hurting me most
horribly--and as the result of his investigations he assured me that the
bones were neither broken nor out of place.
Rayburn also examined the maccuahuitl with much interest. "Of course it
is not brass," he said, "and of course it cannot possibly be
phosphor-bronze. But, if such a thing were a metallurgical possibility,
I should say that it was gold--treated in some manner that gives it as
great a hardness as bronze receives when treated with phosphorus, but
with some chemical change wrought in its constitution that gives it also
the tempered quality of steel. Nothing but gold, you see," he added,
"could lie around out-of-doors this way and not get tarnished by
oxidization."
"What's the reason that it's not some queer thing belonging to the folks
we're looking for?" Young asked; and his question expressed a thought
that already had found a lodging in my own mind. For such good-luck as
this would be I was quite willing to concede that Fray Antonio was right
in his unpleasantly positive views in regard to the shape of the Aztec
swords. And what Young said also put me sharply in mind of the graving
on the rock of the King's symbol, that we had found only in the same
moment to lose it again. To this matter I now adverted; and I said some
very unpleasant things about the Indians who had prevented us from
following the trail, that we had sought for so laboriously, when we did
find it at last--and who still, for we doubted not that the main body
was in wait for us lower down the valley, prevented us from returning to
the spot where we had seen the sign and thence systematically continuing
our search.
"If I was you, Professor," said Young as I ceased speaking, "I wouldn't
be so everlastin'ly down on these poor devils of Indians for what
they've done. They killed Dennis, an' that's a pretty bad business; an'
they got away with our two _mozos_, too; an' they've pretty well
battered th' rest of us. But I take it that we've about evened things up
by killin' eighteen of 'em--or six of their crowd dead for each one dead
in ours. I guess we can call that part of th' business about square. But
what I'm gettin' at is, if it hadn't been for the Indians we'd never
have come up this valley; an' so we'd never have struck th' King's
symbol trail at all."
"But what good did it do us to find it, when we could not follow it?" I
asked. "We cannot go back to examine the sign without risking our lives;
and unless we do examine it we cannot know where the next one is, and so
the trail is lost."
"I've just been waitin'," said Young, "t' see if I was th' only man in
this party that God-a-mighty'd given a pair of eyes to. I guess I am.
Suppose you just get up, Professor, an' turn around, an' take a look at
that place where there's a brown mark on th' side of th' rock; an'
suppose th' rest of you look there too. If that isn't th' King's symbol,
just as plain as th' noses in all your faces, I'll eat every dead Indian
in this cañon."
And Young spoke the truth. Just above the cleft whence Pablo had taken
the sword, graven so deeply in the rock that after all the weathering of
centuries it still remained distinct and clear, was identically the same
figure that Fray Francisco in the far past time had represented in his
letter, and that was repeated also on the far more ancient piece of
gold. Above it was cut an arrow that pointed directly up the cañon.
It was a good thing that something came to cheer us just then; for what
with the death of Dennis and of our two poor Indians, and our own hurts,
and the melancholy feeling that must oppress men always--save those of
cruel and hardened natures--when a fight is ended in which they have
spilled freely human blood, we all were oppressed sensibly by a
consuming sadness.
But here was cheer indeed. Not only had we surely found the trail at
last, but we found it leading in precisely the direction that at that
moment we desired to go. For us to return down the valley to the open
country, we knew was full of most signal danger; for the Indians who so
unaccountably had declined to take part in attacking us assuredly were
lying in wait for us by the way. Our only chance to escape them was to
strike into the mountains; and the sign that we now had gave promise
that we should find some sort of a path along which we might go.
Therefore it was with good heart that we set about getting as far into
the depths of the cañon as possible before night should be wholly upon
us; trusting, in regard to possible pursuit, somewhat to the
superstition of the Indians which so unaccountably yet so obviously had
been aroused, and also to the wholesome dread that they must have of us
upon finding that every one of their companions had been slain. The
bodies of our poor Otomís we placed in a deep fissure in the rock, and
there heaped stones upon them, while Fray Antonio said over them the
briefer office; but the body of Dennis we carried with us, that we might
give him a more tender and reverent burial in gratitude for his brave
struggle to save our lives when he knew that his own life was lost. As
for the eighteen dead Indians--who had invited the death that so
promptly had come to them--we did not bother ourselves about them at
all. We left them to the coyotes.
IX.
THE CAVE OF THE DEAD.
Very dismal was our procession of faintly see figures moving cautiously
through that wild solitude. At its head went Rayburn, leading his horse,
on which was Dennis's dead body; all of us, being bruised and cut and
bleeding, walked slowly and painfully; and behind us, ghastly forms torn
by bullets and crushed by blows, lay the slain Indians in all manner of
unnatural attitudes, made yet more hideous and fantastical by the
gathering gloom of night. Indeed, night now was so close upon us that
had not the cañon in which we were run east and west, we would have been
for some time past in darkness. As it was, though shut off from the west
by the great range of mountains, a faint light came down into its depths
from the still bright eastern sky, where lingered ruddy reflections of
the sunset: and so we could see to pick our way, along the edge of the
little stream, among the rough masses of rock and trunks of trees which
had fallen from above.
Our march ended sooner than we had counted on. Before we had
accomplished more than half a mile of this rough travelling, there
loomed before us a wall of rock which shut in the end of the cañon, and
which rose as high and as sheer as did the cañon's sides. Our hearts
sank within us, for we perceived that we were in a cul-de-sac; whence
escape was possible only along the way by which we had come--and so to
return, with the Indians still in wait for us, was to walk straight into
the jaws of death. And, further, if our course in this direction was cut
off, it was evident that the King's symbol graved upon the rock at the
entrance of the cañon was a useless and misleading sign.
In the hope that we might find a sharp turn, not to be perceived until
we were close upon it, we pressed on through the dusk until we came to
the very end of the cañon, and the dark wall of rock that barred our way
rose directly above our heads. And then we found, not a turn in the
cañon, but a narrow opening (through which came forth the little stream)
into the body of the mountain itself. Yet we hesitated about entering
this black gap--for who could tell what depths, unseen in that dense
darkness, we might not plunge into headlong?
Much dry pine wood, branches and whole trees, lay about us in the cañon;
and of this apt material Rayburn presently constructed a great torch.
Lighting this in the open cañon was not to be thought of, for while we
felt tolerably certain that the main body of our enemies had not
followed us, we could not be wholly certain that they were not close
upon our heels and ready to open upon us with a volley of arrows and
spears. Rayburn therefore struck a wax-match--with which excellent
article of Mexican manufacture we were supplied plentifully--and with
this to light his way, entered the narrow pass; and in his wake the rest
of us followed. Almost in a moment the walls on each side of us spread
out beyond the reach of the narrow circle of light, and we perceived
that we were come into a cave. But before we could at all discern our
surroundings the match was blown out by a sudden suck of wind setting in
from the entrance, and we were in thick darkness. The air around us was
so sweet and so fresh that we knew that the cave must be large, and with
more than one opening--as, indeed, the suck of wind inward through the
passage by which we entered clearly showed. While Rayburn struck another
match, wherewith to light the torch, we all stood still in our places;
and certain tremors went through our breasts because of the eeriness of
our surroundings.
[Illustration: THE CAVE OF THE DEAD]
When the great torch blazed up, and threw everywhere save towards the
high roof a flood of light, a real and rational fear took possession of
us. The cave was nearly circular, and at its back, directly facing the
entrance, was a roughly hewn mass of stone on which rested a huge stone
figure--identical with the figures in the Mexican National Museum to
which Le Plongeon, the discoverer of one of them, at Chichen-Itza, has
given the name of Chac-Mool. But what filled us with dread was not this
impassive stone image. Our alarm came from a much more natural cause,
as we beheld, squatted on their haunches in long semicircular rows,
facing the great stone idol, more than a hundred Indians. Truly,
considering that our rifles were outside the cave and that we had with
us only our revolvers, our momentary thrill of terror was highly
natural.
Yet it was only momentary. The Indians, undisturbed by our presence and
by the sudden blaze of light, remained unmoved in silent worship of
their god; and Rayburn, the first of us to recover equanimity, set all
our fears to flight as he exclaimed: "These are not the fighting kind.
Every man Jack of 'em is as dead as Julius Cæsar. We've struck an Indian
bone-yard."
Here, then, was the reason why a part of the force that had attacked us
had drawn off when we made our stand at the mouth of the cañon that led
to this home of the dead. Yet when, by the light of the torch, we
examined our silent fellow-tenants of the cave, it did not seem that
they had been placed there in recent times. Indeed, the more that Fray
Antonio and I looked closely at their wrappings and noted the way in
which their mummied forms had been ranged before this idol--that
certainly belonged to a primitive time--the more were we inclined to
believe that this weird sepulchre belonged to the very far back past.
But for the moment it mattered not to us whence these dead forms came:
the essential matter was that while we remained in the cave with them we
were in absolute safety.
"Well," said Young, when we had reached this comforting conclusion,
"since it's a sure thing that we're all right here, I move that we make
ourselves comfortable. Let's bring in th' stock, an' get th' packs off;
an' then we'll build a fire an' eat another supper. Fightin' Indians is
hungry work, an' I feel as if I hadn't had anything to eat for a
week"--which suggestions were so reasonable that we at once proceeded to
act upon them.
It was hard work for us, wounded and sore and tired as we were, to
unfasten the pack-cords; and still harder work to collect the wood for
our fire. But we managed to accomplish it all at last; and most
comforting and refreshing was our supper amid those extraordinary
surroundings. There was even cheerfulness about our meal--and yet over
in the shadows at the back of the cave, touched now and then by a
brighter flash of firelight, lay before the heathen altar of old the
body of our poor Dennis; and close beside us were the long rows of dead
Indians. I sometimes have thought that it was strange that we then had
any heart to eat at all, surrounded by so desolate a company. But there
is that about killing one's fellow-creatures, and being in imminent
peril of being killed one's self, I have found, that blunts for a while
the souls of those who survive and makes them careless of death's awful
mystery. As the fire crackled and blazed, giving out a plentiful warmth
that in that chill place was most grateful to our aching bodies, our
spirits seemed to brighten with its brightness; and when the rich smell
of strong coffee mingled with the smell of stewing meats told that
Young's cooking was nearly ended, we sniffed hungrily and eagerly; and
when we actually fell to upon our meal I remember that we even laughed
over it.
Yet it is but just to Fray Antonio to say that his fine spirit did not
fall to the level of grossness that ours were brought to by what, as it
seems to me, was an instinctive gladness on the part of our fleshly
bodies that, for a while longer, they would not return to the dust
whereof they were made. Through our meal he sat gravely silent, yet with
so sweet and so tender an expression upon his gentle face that in his
silence there was no suggestion of reproof. And when our meal was ended,
and we were for stretching out upon our blankets before the fire and
smoking our pipes comfortably, he reminded us, with no touch of
harshness in his voice, that a last duty was claimed of us by our dead
companion.
And, truly, the funeral ceremonies over Dennis in that strange place of
burial made the most curious ending of a man that ever I saw. In the
fine dry sand wherewith the cave was bedded, directly in front of the
altar on which was the heathen idol, we dug his grave--toilsomely and
with pain, for all of our bodies were hurt and sore. While we labored,
two great torches flared upon the altar, propped against the idol; and
long, flickering rays of light shot out to us across the mummied bodies
of the dead Indians--striking across their gleaming teeth, so that they
seemed to smile at us--from the huge blaze of the fire.
From our stores Fray Antonio took out a little salt, and from the clear
spring that bubbled up within the cave a cup of water, which elements
he blessed and mingled as the rites of his Church prescribed; and with
the water thus consecrated he sprinkled the body lying before the
heathen altar, while his strong, sweet voice chanted the _De Profundis_
so that all the cave rang with the rich melody of the holy strain, and
our own breasts were thrilled by it. Gently we bore the body of poor
Dennis from its resting-place before the altar to its last resting-place
in the grave that we had dug there, while Fray Antonio said the
_Miserere_; and as with our pack-ropes we lowered the body into the
earth, the priest sang the _Benedictus_, with its promise of a better
life to come; and then a prayer ended all, and we filled in the grave.
"I'm Congregational, myself," Young said, when our work was finished;
"at least I was brought up that way; an' I'm down on th' Scarlet Woman
from first t' last. But I go in for lettin' folks believe what they've
got a mind to; an' when it cornea t' buryin' 'em it's only square t'
give 'em th' sort of send-off that they'd really like. For a Catholic, I
guess Dennis was a pretty good one; an' I must say I think it would 'a'
done him good to see th' way we've given him a first-class funeral, just
in th' shape he'd 'a' fixed things up for himself. But I guess what
we've been at would have everlastin'ly shook up these dead fellows here,
if they could have come t' life for about five minutes while it was
goin' on!"
There was an element of grim humor in this suggestion of Young's that
tickled my fancy; and it was, indeed, allowing for the quaintness of his
phrasing of it, but an expression of my own thoughts. But my reflection
was upon the curious incongruity of it all, and upon the way in which
religious faiths supplant each other; even as the different races of men
who formulate them and believe in them supplant each other upon the face
of the earth. Together in this same cave were now the dead of two faiths
and two races. Who could tell what dead of other faiths and races yet
unborn would lie here also before the end of time should come?
When all was ended we were glad enough to lie down to give our battered
bodies rest in sleep. We felt sure that no attack would be made upon us;
yet we rolled some fragments of rock into the narrow entrance to the
cave, arranging them in such a way that they would fall with a crash
should any attempt be made to move them from outside. And, this
precaution having been taken, we lay down upon our blankets thankfully,
and never troubled ourselves to keep any watch at all.
It was brilliantly light when we awoke, for the rays of the just-risen
sun were striking strongly into the cave through its entrance-way; and
much light came also through a crevice higher up, and through a great
hole in the vastly high roof. Viewed in this clearer light, there was a
horrible ghastliness about the mummies ranged in their orderly rows, and
presided over by the coarsely carved, coarsely conceived stone figure
that in life they had worshipped as their god. On this image the
sunshine fell full, and we perceived that its position evidently had
been chosen carefully, so that the very first ray of light from the
rising sun would strike upon it. No doubt, in ancient times, this cave
had been a temple as well as a place of sepulchre.
We were well rested by our long and sound sleep; but the pain which was
everywhere in our bodies, from our many bruises, and from our wounds,
and from the aching stiffness of our muscles, made life for a time
almost intolerable. Moreover, the languorous reaction following the
undue exaltation that came of our battling and escape was upon us; so
that our pain of body was accompanied by a most sombre and melancholy
cast of mind. Yet, again, did the more balanced and delicate temperament
of Fray Antonio shine out by contrast with our coarser make; for while
he also suffered pains of the body, his mind was filled with a serene
cheerfulness that found expression in kindly, comforting words, by which
our flagging spirits were strengthened and upheld. There was in Fray
Antonio's nature, surely, a fund of gentle lovingness the like of which
I never knew in any other man.
And, in truth, our plight was such that we stood in much need of
comforting. Not only were we sick with our many hurts, but we were also
prisoners. By the full light of day we examined carefully the cave, and
found no outlet to it; and we examined carefully, also, the walls of the
cañon throughout its full length, and made sure that there was no path
leading upward whereby a man could go. And escape down the valley was
cut off, for the Indians--who knew, no doubt, the manner of place we
were caught in--were on guard and watching for us; which fact came
sharply to our knowledge with a half-dozen arrows that dropped among us
as we went out a little way beyond the mouth of the cañon to see if the
way was open to us. Had we been whole, we might have made a dash and
fought our way through; but even this poor plan was not possible when
our bodies were stiff and sore. Our one comforting thought was that, as
we had an abundance of provisions and an ample supply of water, we could
hold out for so long a time that the Indians at last would get tired of
waiting for us. If they ventured to attack us in the cave, we knew that
we could defend ourselves against any number of them successfully. If
they simply abandoned the siege, then we would be free without fighting
at all. But it was dismal work waiting in that dismal place for one or
the other of these two ends to come.
And the fact that the King's symbol had proved a false guide also was a
source of deep concern to us. By the full strength of daylight we again
examined the graving at the entrance to the cañon, and there was no
mistaking the way in which the arrow pointed. And, what was even more
perplexing and disheartening, we found the graving repeated at the
entrance to the cave, and the arrow pointing directly towards the statue
of Chac-Mool. It was impossible that this cave, with mummies only for
inhabitants, could be the walled city wherein the reserve force of men
and treasure had been hid; and yet here, obviously, was the end of the
trail. Of this we convinced ourselves by searching the cave exhaustively
for another outlet--even sounding the walls in the hope that we might
find a passage that had been artificially concealed. As Rayburn tersely
put it, we were no better than so many rats in a trap with terriers
waiting for us outside.
X.
THE SWINGING STATUE.
Four more days went by very wearily. Our wounds were healing--for we all
were in good condition as the result of our vigorous life in the open
air--but they still kept us in constant pain, and so tended to increase
our melancholy. Out in the valley, beyond the mouth of the cañon, the
Indians maintained their watchful guard. Rayburn tried the experiment of
holding a hat and coat out on a pole, standing himself under cover of
the rock, and in an instant a pair of arrows went through the dummy; and
as one of these came from the right and the other from the left, it was
evident that in both directions the valley was picketed.
We were safe enough for the time being, of course. Even should the
Indians overcome their superstitious dread and enter the cañon--which
was not probable, for they had not even ventured to remove their
dead--they could not possibly make a successful attack upon us in the
cave. Behind the breastwork that we had built in the narrow entrance,
and armed with our repeating rifles and revolvers, we were absolutely
secure.
"It's not a bad thing that we're safe," said Young, "an' that we've got
plenty of grub an' water, an' even lots of firewood; if we've got t' be
shut up here we might as well be comfortable. But what I want is a
through ticket for home. This treasure business has gone back on us th'
worst kind. That old Fray Francisco had his eye shut up by th' tall talk
of th' fellow who pretended to be converted; and th' Cacique just
promiscuously lied. That's about the size of it. An' for bein' fools
enough to swallow their stuff, here we are, as Rayburn says, like rats
in a cage."
There was so much probability in what Young said that I did not attempt
to argue with him; yet was I convinced that in what Fray Francisco had
written, and still more in what the dying Cacique had said to me, there
was a substantial element of truth.
Finding that nobody replied to him, for all of us were sore at heart and
so disposed to silence, Young turned to the statue of Chac-Mool and
proceeded to abuse it vigorously, on the ground that it was an
idolatrous product of the Aztec race that was at the root of all our
troubles. For, as he truly said, had there been no Aztecs to begin with,
our departure on a wild-goose chase after an Aztec treasure-house would
have been an impossibility. His attention having been thus fixed upon
the idol, his habit of investigation got the better of his ill-will
towards it, and he mounted the altar to examine it more
closely--continuing the while to address it in language that was
eminently unparliamentary.
"A pretty-looking sort a specimen _you_ are!" he said, in a tone of
vast contempt. "But you're about what I'd expect folks like that friend
of th' Professor's, th' Cacique, t' worship. It takes a low sort of a
heathen, even in his blindness, t' bow down to a stone like you--with
your twisted head, an' your stubby legs, an' your little fryin'-pan over
your stomach. Why, where I come from they wouldn't have you even for a
stone settee in a park. No, you're not fit even t' sit on--unless,
maybe, it's on th' flat top of your crooked head;" and by way of testing
this possibility, Young seated himself on the head of Chac-Mool.
And then a very extraordinary thing happened. The idol, and the great
slab of stone on which it rested and of which it was a part, slowly
moved; the head sinking, and the other end of the slab, on which the
legs were carved, rising in the air! Young sprang up with a cry as he
felt the stone sinking beneath him; and the figure, relieved of his
weight, settled back into its former position with a slight jar. In a
moment that the slab was in the air there had come from under it a gleam
of light.
In the excitement wrought by this strange accident our hurts were
forgotten; and we eagerly clambered upon the altar to investigate the
matter further, while hope and wonder thrilled our hearts.
"Now, then, Young," said Rayburn, "try it again. It looks as though this
idol wasn't all the blackguard things you've been calling it, by a long
shot."
"No, I'll be hanged if I'll try it again," Young answered. "Try it
yourself, if you want to. How do I know what's goin' t' happen with a
stone thing that goes tippin' around that way? I don't mind sayin' that
I'm a good deal jolted, an' don't feel like foolin' with it any more.
Try it yourself, if you want to, I say."
"All right," Rayburn answered. "You and the Professor stand here where
you can grab me if anything goes wrong. It looks to me as though there
was a chance for us of some sort here, and I mean to see what it is."
Young and I stood on each side of Rayburn and held him by the arms as he
seated himself on the idol's head. Borne down by his weight, the head
slowly sank, the whole fore-end of the stone slab falling away into the
rock, and the after-end correspondingly rising and disclosing a squared
opening, through which came a strong burst of light. When the head was
down to the level of the rock, and the slab stood up at an angle of
nearly fifty degrees, the movement ceased. Looking into the opening we
saw a flight of a dozen stone steps. On the bottom step the sun shone
brightly, and in our faces blew a draught of fresh, sweet air. On the
rock, beside the stair-way was carved the King's symbol, with the arrow
pointing downward.
"Hurrah!" cried Young. "Here's a way out--an' it looks as if that old
monk an' th' Cacique weren't such a pair of blasted liars after all!"
Rayburn jumped up to have a look with the rest of us; but before he
could see anything the statue had fallen into place again and the
opening was closed. "No matter, we know how to work it, now," he said.
"We must prop it up somehow; that's all. I want to have a look at this
thing. There's some mighty good engineering shown in the way the centre
of gravity of that stone has been calculated; and there's a good
mechanism in the way it's hung. Here she goes again. Just chock it with
a bit of rock when I swing it open."
"Well, what I'm interested in," said Young, "is findin' out what sort of
a place it'll get us into. It looks to me as if we might be goin' to
strike the treasure right smack here."
Much the same notion was in all of our heads by this time, and we were
full of eagerness--the statue having been swung again, and propped in
place with a fragment of rock--as we went down the little stair. But
what we found was only a continuation of the cañon--as though, by some
curious freak of nature, the thin walls of rock enclosing the cave had
been left thus in the very middle of it. Rayburn drew our attention to
the fact that we were on the crest of a divide, for a spring that
bubbled up here flowed away from us; and this also was a cheering sign
that the cañon had an outlet. How far away the outlet might be we could
not tell; for the cañon, half a mile or so from where we stood, bent
sharply to the right. But being thus assured that a way of some sort out
of our prison was open to us, we turned to examine the work of the
skilled mechanics who in some far past time had set this swinging statue
in its place. From below, the simple apparatus, that yet for its fitting
required so high a grade of scientific knowledge, was plainly disclosed
to us. Into the great slab of stone, presumably running through it from
side to side, was set a round bar of metal--the same bright metal of
which the sword was made--more than a foot in diameter; and this worked
in two concave metal sockets in much the same manner that the sockets of
a gun-carriage hold the trunnions of a gun. What struck Rayburn as
especially remarkable was the trueness to a circle of both the sockets
and the bar; both showing, as he declared, that they had been worked
upon a lathe. And he was puzzled, as in the case of the sword, as to the
composition of the metal that thus defied oxidization through long
periods of time. "Gold is the only thing that fills the bill," he said;
"but a bar of gold, even of that size, would bend double under such a
strain. I'd give ten dollars for a chance to analyze it--for there's a
bigger fortune in putting a metal like that on the market than there is
in finding this treasure that we're hunting for: especially if it turns
out that there isn't any treasure to find."
"Now, don't you go t' runnin' down that treasure," Young struck in.
"Just now treasure stock is up. Me an' that idol have just boomed th'
market. I'm sorry I called Jack Mullins, or whatever his name is, such a
lot of cuss-word names. I take 'em all back. He isn't just th' sort of
an idol that I'd pick out t' worship myself, at least not as a steady
thing; but there are good points about him--especially th' way he tips
up. I always did like an idol that tipped up. He's done th' square thing
by us in gettin' us out all right from th' worst sort of a hole; an' I
guess th' best thing we can do is t' yank our traps out of that cave
an' get started again. Why, for all we know, th' treasure may be right
around that corner."
There was no doubt as to the soundness of Young's suggestion in regard
to resuming our march; but the very serious fact confronted us that we
now must do our marching on foot. To get the horses and mules down
through the narrow opening was simply impossible, and there was nothing
for us but to leave them behind. Rayburn looked very grave over this
phase of the matter, for leaving the mules meant also that we must leave
the greater part of our ammunition and stores. That these things would
be abundantly safe in the cave, for any length of time, was not to the
purpose; the essential matter was that we would be deprived of them. It
was hard, too, to think that our animals would fall into the hands of
the Indians--for our only course with them must be to turn them loose in
the cañon, whence they certainly would go out in search of pasture into
the valley, and so be captured; but it was still harder to think that we
must go ourselves on foot and with a scant outfit of supplies.
It was not very cheerfully, therefore, that we went back into the cave
and began to sort out from our packs the articles which would be
absolutely necessary to our preservation in the rough work among the
mountains that probably was before us; and our shoulders already ached a
little in anticipation of the heavy loads which they must bear.
It was while we were thus engaged that Pablo begged that I would step
aside with him for a moment that he might speak to my ear alone. I saw
that there were tears upon his cheeks, and as he spoke he scarcely
could restrain his sobs.
"Señor," he said, "you know El Sabio?"
"Surely, Pablo."
"You know, señor, that he is a very small ass."
"It is true."
"And you know--you know, señor, how very tenderly we love each other.
Since I came away from my father and my mother, in Guadalajara, and from
my little brother and sister there, El Sabio is everything in the world
to me, señor. I--I cannot leave him, señor. I should die if we were
parted; and El Sabio would die also. And you say that you have perceived
that he is a very small ass. Do not ask me to leave him, señor."
"But we cannot take him with us, Pablo. What would you have?"
"That is it, señor; truly, I think that we can take him with us. You
see, he is so little; and it is quite wonderful through how small a
place El Sabio can crawl. He can creep like a kitten, señor, and he can
make himself into a very little bunch. And so I think that he can--if we
help him, you know, señor--and speak to him so that he will not be
alarmed, and will try to do his very best to make a small bunch of
himself--I think that we can get him down through the hole, and so take
him with us. But if we cannot, señor, then--you must forgive me,
señor--I love him so very dearly, you know--then I will stay with him
here. It would be better so than that El Sabio should think I no longer
loved him. And he would think that, señor, were I to go with you and
leave him here among these dreadful dead gentlemen alone."
It had not occurred to any of us that El Sabio might be condensed
sufficiently to go through the narrow way; but if he truly were the
collapsable donkey that Pablo declared him to be, we had a good deal to
be thankful for. He was a sturdy little creature, and his small back
could bear easily twice as much as any two of ours. With his assistance
we certainly would be able to carry with us all of our ammunition and
arms--of which defensive stuff we could not well afford to spare the
smallest part.
And El Sabio, after Pablo had made a long explanation of the case to
him, and had told him precisely what we expected him to do--to all of
which he listened gravely and with an astonishing air of comprehending
what was said to him--seemed to enter into the spirit of the situation,
and to try his very best to meet its requirements. It is a puzzle to me
to this day how El Sabio managed to shrink himself so that we got him
through that narrow hole; but he certainly did manage it--and then went
down the stone stair-way backward, as though he had been trained to be a
trick donkey from his youth up. When the feat was accomplished, and he
stood safely out in the cañon, the expressions of love, and of
congratulation upon his cleverness, which Pablo lavished upon him were
enough to have turned completely a less serious-minded donkey's head.
Such of our stores as we were compelled to leave behind us, including
our saddles, and the pack-saddles, and all the heavier portion of our
camp equipage, we heaped in one corner of the cave and piled rocks
over; and then we turned our poor horses and the mules loose in the
cañon, feeling certain that their instinct would lead them out to the
valley in search of food. It went to our hearts to know that these good
beasts of ours were doomed to hard service under Indian masters to the
end of their days.
All being thus in readiness for our advance, we went down the stair-way
beneath the swinging statue, and from beneath pulled out the piece of
rock which propped up the great mass of stone. With a heavy jar it fell
and closed the passage-way, and we prepared to start. Just then Fray
Antonio remembered that he had left on a ledge in the cave--that we had
used as a shelf for the storage of various small matters during our
sojourn there--a little volume that he dearly loved: the _Meditations of
Thomas à Kempis_. He was full of remorse for his forgetfulness, and did
not ask that we should turn back to get his book for him; yet his
distress over the loss of it was so evident that we had not the heart to
go on.
"It will take only ten minutes to go back," said Rayburn, and as he
spoke he ran up the stair-way and set his shoulders to sway up the
stone. In a moment he called: "Just come here, Young, and help, will
you? It don't work as easily from this side." But even with Young's help
the stone did not move. Then the rest of us joined these two, and all
five of us together pushed with all our strength--and the stone did not
yield by so much as the breadth of a hair! And then rather a queer look
came into Rayburn's face, and he said: "I think that I understand what
is the matter. The point of leverage falls beyond the edge of the hole.
From where we have a chance to push, we are working against the whole
weight of the stone. We might as well try to lift the mountain itself!"
And then he added, "I guess we'd better give this thing up and start."
Very curious feelings were in our breasts as we picked up our packs and
set off along the cañon; for we knew that by that way only could we go,
and that, no matter what was ahead of us, our retreat was cut off.
XI.
THE SUBMERGED CITY.
A sweet, warm wind blew in our faces as we set off along the cañon; the
sun shone joyously upon us, and there was that fresh, tingling quality
in the air that is peculiar to regions high above the level of the sea.
In spite of the fact that the way behind us was irrevocably barred, and
that no matter what dangers were ahead of us we had no option but to
face them, our spirits were strong within us, and we went blithely on
our way. Young, who was in advance, began to whistle "Yankee Doodle";
and presently, from the rear of our procession, where Pablo walked
beside the heavily laden El Sabio, there broke forth a mouth-organ
accompaniment to this spirited melody.
The bed of the cañon, through which a little stream ran, fell away
before us along a slight down grade; which descent, since we found also
a good foot-way beside the stream, made walking comparatively easy
notwithstanding our heavy back-loads. Now and then our way would be
barred by masses of rock fallen from above, and by whole trees blown
down from their insecure roothold on the rocky cliffs; and twice we came
to steep descents which would have given us trouble had we not brought
along the ropes wherewith our packs had been bound. Shifting El Sabio
down these places was our hardest task; but with the ropes, and the
intelligent part that he took in the performance, we managed it
successfully.
So we went on for half a dozen miles or more through the windings of the
cañon, but keeping all the while a sharp lookout ahead--for in the mouth
of this end of the cañon, supposing it to open as at the other end upon
a grassy valley, we well enough might come upon an Indian camp. And that
we had come upon such a camp we felt quite sure when, late in the
afternoon, Rayburn signalled us from his advanced position--he having
gone to the head of the line in Young's place--to stand still until he
should reconnoitre a little. Being thus halted, we unslung our rifles
and loosed our pistols in their holsters, so that we might be ready in
case fighting suddenly should begin; and Rayburn went on around a turn
in the cañon, and for a while we lost sight of him.
Presently he returned and signalled us to join him, but to move
cautiously. When we came up with him he led us to the bend in the cañon,
and there a broad view opened to us; for the cañon suddenly widened
into a great valley, that was everywhere, so far as we could see,
surrounded by walls of rock almost perpendicular and vastly high. In the
bottom of the valley was a broad expanse of delectably green
meadow-land, broken here and there by groves of trees; and in the
valley's middle part, reaching from side to side of it, was a lovely
lake, whereof the blue was flecked by white reflections of certain
little idly drifting clouds: the sight of all which greenness and fair
water and broad range of sky--after being for so long a season pent up
in rocky fastnesses and wandering over brown, sun-baked plains--fairly
brought tears into my eyes because of its fresh and open loveliness. And
in the tender feeling that thus stirred my heart, as I could see in the
quick glance that he gave me, Fray Antonio also keenly sympathized; for
his nature was very open at all times to such gentle influences.
But Rayburn and Young, as was evident from their anxious looks, were
thinking only of the dangers which this lovely valley might hold in
store for us; for the shore of the lake nearest to us had many houses
built upon it, and we could see faintly, for the width of the lake was
nearly two miles, that there were other houses upon its farther shore.
Standing hidden behind a rock, Rayburn examined the valley carefully
through a field-glass for a long while.
"I must say this place beats me," he said at last, as he put the glass
down from his eyes. "There's no doubt about there being a down down
there; but I can't make out a sign of a single living thing. And what
is still queerer, the houses seem to go right down into the lake. If
you'll take the glass, Professor, you'll see that a few of them, on this
side, stand all right on dry ground; and then, farther down the sloping
bank, are a lot in the water; and beyond these there seem to be some
roofs just showing above the level of the lake. And as far as I can make
out, things are just the same over on the far shore. It looks as if the
lake had risen after the town was built."
As I looked through the glass I saw that what Rayburn had said was true;
and I observed with much interest that many of the houses were large,
and that all seemed to be well built of stone. Their construction
reminded me of the buildings which M. Charnay examined at Tula, and I
was eager to get down to them and examine them closely. Young and Fray
Antonio took the glass, in turn, and as none of us saw any signs of life
in the valley, we decided to go on. And we were mightily stimulated in
this resolve by finding, just at the end of the cañon, where the sharp
descent began, a graving of the King's symbol on the rock, with the
arrow pointing directly down the steep path.
"Here's a walled city, for sure," said Young; "and if this is where th'
treasure-house is, we won't raise a row because th' folks have gone off
an' left it. Just whoop up that burro of yours, Pablo, an' let's be
gettin' along. It's a pity we had t' leave th' mules behind. If th'
treasure's in silver, we can't get away with much of it with nothin' but
El Sabio t' pack it on."
Pablo did not understand this speech, of course, but he recognized his
own name and the name of El Sabio, and Young's gestures helped out the
meaning of his words. Therefore Pablo grinned, and "whooped up" El
Sabio; and we all set off briskly down the steep decline.
Presently we found our way much easier than we had been led to expect by
its rough beginning. As we advanced along it there was ample evidence
that the path had been graded and smoothed by the hand of man. In
several places it was carried on a terrace supported by a well-laid
retaining wall; a deep crevice was spanned by long slabs of stone, so
placed as to form a bridge; and where it turned sharply around a high
shoulder of rock, the face of the cliff had been quarried away. Yet that
this all had been done in a very remote time was shown by the fragments
of rock which had fallen into it here and there, and which were
blackened by age. "The same fellow who set that statue in place probably
was in charge here," was Rayburn's comment, "and he was a first-rate
engineer. I wish I knew how he managed to swing those stone slabs over
that crevice. There's no room there to set up a derrick, and it would
puzzle me to set blocks like that without one."
And Rayburn's admiration for the professional skill of this engineer of
a long past age was still further excited when the path came fairly into
the valley, and thence was carried downward along the gentle slope
towards the lake, by a perfectly even two-per-cent. grade, over a broad
way paved smoothly with squared blocks of stone. And Fray Antonio and I
were much interested in this work also, for we both perceived the
identity of its structure with the paved way that is found on the east
coast of Yucatan, and that is continued on the island of Cozumel.
By this paved avenue we entered the city--for, as we presently found, it
was entitled to this more dignified name. The first houses that we came
to were but small buildings enclosing a single room--such as are found,
inhabited by working-people, on the outskirts of any Mexican city at the
present day. They were silent and deserted; but they gave, at first
sight, the impression of being but momentarily abandoned, for the
belongings of their owners still remained in them as though the
every-day affairs of life still went on within their walls. In the first
that we entered we found an earthen pot still standing on a sort of
fireplace, and beside the fireplace a little pile of charcoal. There was
a fragment of bone in the pot, and beneath it were some scraps of
charcoal which remained unconsumed. It was as though cooking had been
going on here but an hour before. Rayburn even put his hand into the
ashes to feel if they still were warm. But closer investigation gave us
a juster notion of the long lapse of time that must have occurred since
any fire had burned upon this hearth. In one corner of the room we found
a pile of mats, but on touching these they crumbled into fragments in
our hands; and the bone in the pot was so dry and so porous that it was
light as cork.
As in this first house that we examined, so was it in all of them. All,
at the first glance, seemed to have been but a moment before deserted;
but all had signs about them which showed that they had been abandoned
for a very long time. In one we found a loom--in construction very like
that which the Navajo Indians use at the present day--on which hung,
partly completed, a sheer filament that once had been some sort of heavy
woollen cloth. In another, a cotton garment was lying carelessly upon a
shelf, as though but a moment before cast aside; yet, as I tried to pick
it up, it crumbled between my fingers into a fine powder.
Of humanity, the only sign that we found anywhere about this grim and
desert place was the dried, shrivelled remnant of a woman that we came
upon in an upper room of one of the larger houses farther on. She was
lying upon a bed of mats, partly turned upon her side, and one arm was
stretched out towards an earthen cup that stood just beyond her reach
upon the floor. There was strong pathos in the action of the figure, for
it told of the keen thirst of fever--of weakness so extreme that the
inch or two between the hand and the cup was a gulf impassable--of a
moaning struggle after the water so longed for--and then, at last, of
death in that utter and desolate loneliness. And what added to the
ghastliness of it all was that a thin ray of sunlight, coming through a
crevice in the wall, struck upon the woman's teeth--whence the lips had
dried away--and by its gleaming there made on her face a smile.
As we came close to the lake, we perceived, as Rayburn already had
discerned by the aid of the glass, that houses, partially submerged,
actually rose from the water, and that houses of which only the roofs
were visible were farther on. That this whole valley was the crater of
an extinct volcano was sufficiently evident; and we could only surmise
that in later times some fresh cataclysm of nature had poured suddenly
into it a vast body of water, and so had submerged the city that had
been builded here. Whatever had brought about the catastrophe, it
evidently had come with a most appalling suddenness. Everywhere the
condition of the houses showed how hastily they had been abandoned; and
the wild hurry of flight was shown still more clearly in the case of the
woman--whose surroundings gave evidence that she had been a person of
consequence--deserted in her age or infirmity and left lonely to die.
Young's face wore a melancholy expression as we stood upon the shore of
the lake, and looked out across it towards the faintly seen western
shore. "If this is th' place we're huntin' for," he said, "I guess our
treasure stock is pretty badly watered, unless somebody's had th' sense
t' keep th' treasure dry over on th' other side. We'd better move over
there, I reckon, an' take a look for it, especially as we've got t' go
that way anyhow in order t' get out. There ought t' be some sort of a
path around th' lake, between th' edge of th' water and th' cliffs."
But when we came to examine into this matter we found that there was no
path at all. On each side of the valley the walls of rock rose directly
from the water, sharp and sheer.
"Well," said Rayburn, when we had finished our inspection, "we've got
to get across somehow. I guess we'll have to sail in, the first thing
to-morrow morning, and build a raft. These pine-trees down here by the
water will cut easy and float well, and there's some comfort in that,
anyway. But what I'm after right now is my supper."
Pablo already had started a fire, having first unpacked El Sabio, that
he might refresh himself by rolling on the soft, green grass and by
eating his fill of it, and Young presently had some ham fried and some
coffee boiled. We had counted upon having fresh meat for supper that
night, for there was everything in the look of the valley to promise
that we would find game there; but, so far, not a four-footed thing nor
a bird had we seen, nor even signs of fish in the lake.
In the morning we got out the axes and went to work at the building of
the raft; and, notwithstanding what Rayburn had said in regard to the
ease of cutting them, I must confess that for my part I found the
cutting of pine-trees very wearying and painful. My hands were blistered
by it, and the muscles of my back were made extremely sore by it for
several days. Indeed, the construction of a raft big enough to float us
all, and our heavy packs, and El Sabio, was a serious undertaking. We
spent two days and a half over it, and I never in my life was more
thankful for anything than I was when at last that wretched raft was
done. As Young observed, as he regarded our finished work critically,
there was no style about it--for it was only a lot of rough logs, of
which the upper and lower layers ran fore and aft and the middle layer
transversely, the whole bound together by our pack-ropes--but it was
large enough for our purposes, and it was solid and strong.
In the late afternoon we carried our belongings on board of it, and
Pablo succeeded by dint of much entreaty in inducing El Sabio to board
it also, and we pushed off from shore. For driving the clumsy thing
forward we had made four rough paddles, which well enough served our
purposes, for there was no current whatever in the lake and the air was
still.
[Illustration: AFLOAT ON THE LAKE]
As we went onward we discovered how considerable the city was that here
lay submerged. Through the perfectly clear water we could see to a great
depth, and beneath us in every direction were paved streets, lined with
houses well built of stone. Near the centre of the valley the size of
the houses greatly increased, and the fashion of their building was more
stately; and fronting upon a great open square in the very centre of the
city was a building of such extraordinary size that we took it to be the
palace of a king; but here the water was so deep that we could make out
but faintly the looming far below us of its mighty walls. Never have I
been more pained than I then was; for in that place I found myself close
to making discoveries of surpassing archæological value, and yet I was
as completely cut off from them as though they had no existence.
Just beyond the palace, as we went onward, our raft almost touched the
roof of a noble building that stood upon the top of a vast pyramidal
mound, the base of which we could see but dimly far down through the
waters of the lake. This, evidently, had been the chief temple of the
city; and as we passed over it and came to its eastern side, we had
ghastly and certain proof of the terrible suddenness with which the city
had been overwhelmed. On the broad terrace before the temple was the
sacrificial stone, and upon this dark mass we saw distinctly the
gleaming of human bones; and as we peered down into the water we
perceived that all the terrace was strewn thickly with human bones also,
showing that when the rush of water came many thousands of human beings
had here perished miserably. For a little while, no doubt, all the
surface of the water round about where we were had been dotted thickly
with the bodies of the drowned which had floated upward; and then, one
by one, they had sunk again to the place where death first found
them--where their flesh wasted away from them until only their gleaming
bones remained.
I pictured to myself the dreadful scene that once had passed, down there
below us, where now was only the calm serenity of ancient death: the
great crowd collected to witness the sacrifice, and then the sudden
coming of the waters--possibly so quickly that the victim, held down by
the neck-yoke upon the sacrificial stone, was drowned ere there was time
to slay him. This great mound would be the last of all to be covered,
and the wretched people gathered there must have seen their city
disappear beneath the waters before death came to them. No doubt they
thought themselves safe in that high place, made sacred by the presence
of their gods. And when the water did reach them, what a writhing and
struggling there must have been for a little while; what a crushing of
the weak by the strong in mad efforts to gain even a moment's safety
upon some higher standing-place! And then, at last, the water rose
triumphant in its swelling majesty over all--and beneath its placid
surface were hid the silenced terrors of all that commotion of mortal
agony, whereof the outcome was the peaceful and eternal calm of death.
XII.
IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH.
As the raft approached the western shore of the lake we perceived
beneath us no longer houses, but large walled enclosures which plainly
had been gardens of pleasure--for gaunt trees, symmetrically planted in
groves and beside stone-paved path-ways, yet stood in them; and seats of
carved stone were placed in what once had been shaded nooks; and in many
of the gardens were carved stone fountains of elegant design. Between
the city and what once had been its charming suburb extended a broad
paved way, like that which we had found upon the eastern shore; and this
paved way was continued on the dry ground above the present level of the
lake towards the cliffs westward. On the high western shore were a few
houses, large and handsome, and having walled gardens around them,
which evidently had belonged to persons of great wealth and consequence.
In these we found shadowy remnants of a past magnificence. On many of
the walls were hangings, once rich and heavy, that now were mere films
of ghostly stuff held together by the many gold threads which had been
woven into their fabric. Pottery, wrought into beautiful shapes, yet
ornamented with designs that told of but half-redeemed barbarism, was
scattered about everywhere, and scarcely a piece was broken. Some very
handsome weapons we found also--swords and spears and knives--of the
same curious metal as the sword which Pablo so opportunely had laid
hands upon in the cañon, but far more finely finished and more delicate
in design. And of this same metal was made a great throne, as it seemed
to us to be, that was in the largest room of the finest of all the
houses; a house that we believed was once the pleasure palace of the
king. The audience-chamber in which this throne stood was of finely
wrought stone-work, whereof the whole surface was covered with
low-reliefs of men and animals--scenes of battle, of council, and of the
chase--surrounded by curious tracery of such orderly design that Fray
Antonio agreed with me in the belief that it was some sort of
hieroglyphic writing. But this matter is treated of so fully in my
_Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent of North America_ that I need
not enter upon discussion of it here.
But in none of these houses, much to the disappointment of Rayburn and
Young, did we find any scrap of the treasure for which they so
earnestly longed. And, truly, if treasure remained in this wrecked city,
it was less likely to be in these outlying country houses than in some
strong building in the city's heart; and so beyond their reach in the
depths of the lake. If this were indeed the walled city for which we
were searching--as well it might be, for never was a city surrounded by
grander walls than the mighty cliffs wherewith the valley was
encompassed--our search was like to be a vain one so far as mere
treasure was concerned; though I, for my part, felt myself well repaid
for all that I had thus far suffered by the discovery of so much that
was of archæological value. In this purer pleasure Fray Antonio shared;
yet was he also dissatisfied--for he had come with us that he might
preach Christianity to living souls: and here were only the bones of
countless dead.
The paved way still led westward, and we followed it--for to the
westward must be the valley's outlet. As it rose to a higher level the
way widened; and on each side of it was a stone statue of the god
Chac-Mool. As we came to these statues Young proceeded, in a most
business-like way, and with no apparent appreciation of the queer figure
that he cut, to sit down in turn on each of their heads. And he was
mightily disappointed when he found that neither of them stirred.
"They're not th' tippin' kind," he said, ruefully, as he got down from
the head of the second one and looked at it with an expression of
reproach.
But his countenance brightened, when we had gone a little farther, as he
caught sight of another and much larger statue of the god that was set
in a great niche cut in the cliff at the end of the paved way. To
prepare here the god's abiding-place very arduous labor had been
undertaken. For a space fully one hundred feet high and as many broad
the whole face of the cliff had been quarried into; making a deep recess
that was rounded above, and that from beneath was approached by a long
flight of steps cut from the solid rock. In the centre of the recess,
upon the terraced space above the stairs, was a huge squared mass of
stone, on which the great stone figure of Chac-Mool rested. The opening
faced directly eastward, and as we approached it the stone figure was
seen but indistinctly in the duskiness of the recess, over which, and
far beyond which into the valley, fell the shadow of the mighty cliff.
From in front of this great altar all the valley was open to us; and
hence, before the lake swallowed it, every part of the city must have
been clearly visible in ancient times. As we mounted the steps and
approached the idol I observed that Pablo hung back a little; as though
in the depths of his nature some chord had been touched, some ancient
instinct in his blood aroused, that filled his soul with awe.
Certainly there was no suggestion of awe in Young's demeanor towards the
statue. With a monkey-like quickness, that I would not have given his
stout legs and heavy body credit for, he climbed upon the altar and
plumped himself down on the head of the figure almost in a moment. But
again he was disappointed, for the idol did not stir. As we examined it
closely we perceived that its fixedness was not unreasonable; for the
figure, and the altar on which it rested, were one solid mass of rock
that itself was a part of the cliff--left standing here when the niche
around it was hollowed out. A very prodigious piece of stone-cutting all
this was, and as I contemplated it I was filled with admiration of the
skill of them who had achieved it. But Young came down from the idol
moodily; and he said that the way these people had of playing tricks on
travellers, by making Mullinses that didn't tip when they ought to tip,
was quite of a piece with their putting their treasure where it couldn't
be got at without a diving-bell.
Behind the altar the niche was cut into the cliff so far that the depths
of it in the waning daylight were dusky with heavy shadows; indeed, so
dense were these that Young came near to breaking his bones by falling
into a little hole in the floor, that was the less easily seen because
it was hidden behind a jutting mass of rock. But he caught the rock in
time to save himself from falling, and eagerly struck a wax-match that
he might see if here were a passage-way for us. Descending into the rock
was a stair-way, the steps whereof were smoothed as though many feet had
trodden them; and down these steps he promptly went, holding the lighted
match before him--these Mexican wax-matches are as good as tapers--and
having with him the full box of matches should further light be
required. A minute later we heard his voice calling to us, but where it
came from we could not tell--for he had descended into the rock below
us, and the sound that we heard seemed to come from the air above.
While we listened we saw the gleam of the light in the darkness below,
and then he came up the stair laughing.
"Well, that's just th' boss trick," he said. "I guess th' old priests
who used t' run this place would be everlastin'ly down on me if they
knew that I'd tumbled to it. There's a hole right up into th' idol an'
room inside of him for half a dozen men, an' there's a crack in his head
that you can see out through while you're lettin' off prophecies an'
that sort o' thing. Why, if you had a crowd t' work with who really
believed in Jack Mullins, you could set 'em up for almost anything with
a rig like that!"
But this curious discovery, in which Fray Antonio and I were deeply
interested, did not forward our immediate purpose, which was to find a
way out of the valley. We still cherished a faint hope, indeed, that we
might find the King's symbol with the arrow pointing the way onward, and
so be assured that the city buried in the depths of the lake was not the
city of which we were in search. But in any event the need for getting
out of the valley pressed upon us; and that we might accomplish our
deliverance from this shut-in place, we examined closely the whole
circuit of the cliffs at the western end. Not an inch of this great
expanse of rock, for as far up the wall as our eyes could see clearly,
escaped our attentive observation; yet nowhere was there, even by bold
climbing, a place where the cliff might be scaled, still less an open
path. And so, having walked slowly along the bottom of the cliffs to
the edge of the lake on the north, and there turned upon our steps and
come slowly back again to where we started from, and having made a like
double journey of inspection to and from the edge of the lake to the
south, we came at last to our first point of departure, and rested
before the statue of Chac-Mool, disconsolate.
One discovery we had made in the course of our explorations which
enabled us to understand how the fate that had overtaken the drowned
city had fallen upon it. Close by the northern border of the valley we
saw, high up above us, a vast rift more than a thousand feet wide in the
face of the cliff; and below this the ground was torn into a deep wild
channel, and everywhere huge fragments of rock were scattered over the
ground. Here it was, then, that the water had poured in--bursting forth
from a lake above--by which the city at one stroke had been overwhelmed.
Some little notice, by the mighty roaring that must have accompanied so
great a crash of rocks and so vast a rush of water, the dwellers in the
city must have had; and the gleam of the pouring waters would have shown
them the nature of the ruin that was upon them. There would have been
time, before the water was waist-deep in the city streets, for them to
make their way to the high mound on which their temple stood; and in the
appalling horror of it all they might have clamored to their priests
that a victim should be sacrificed to stay this terrible outburst of
anger on the part of their gods. But it was more than likely that before
the sacrifice could be completed they all--people, priests, and he who
was to be sacrificed--perished together beneath the flood.
"Why," said Young, "th' Mill River disaster wasn't anything to it, an'
that was pretty bad. I was runnin' th' way-freight on th' Old Colony
road when that happened, an' I took a day off an' went up an' had a look
at it. But this just lays that little horror out cold. It's as big as
lettin' loose on Boston the whole of Massachusetts Bay."
That we should be prisoners in a place where death had wrought so
swiftly such tremendous havoc was quite enough to fill our souls with a
brooding melancholy. But in addition to the sombre thoughts which thus
were forced upon us, bred of sorrow for the thousands who had here
untimely perished, the gloomy dread of a more practical sort assailed us
that we also in a little while would join the silent company of the
thousands who had died here in a long past time. And the death that
seemed to be in store for us was less merciful than that which had come
to them. Theirs had been a short struggle, and then a gentle ending as
the waters closed over them. But our ending was like to be a lingering
one and miserable--by starvation.
With the loss of our mules and horses we had been compelled to leave
behind us the greater portion of our stores; and for our protection
against savages, and in the belief that in the mountains we should meet
with an abundance of game, we had left almost all of our provisions, and
made our lading mainly of ammunition and arms. But in this valley, so
smiling and so beautiful, there was no live thing except ourselves. Not
a beast, not a bird had we seen since we entered it; and in the lake, as
we found presently, there were no fish; the only sign that animal life
ever had existed here was that dried and withered remnant of a woman
that we had found in the deserted house, and the bones which we had seen
gleaming below us in the lake. This was, in truth, as we came thus to
call it, the Valley of Death.
While we worked at building the raft we had not thought to be sparing in
our eating--for building that raft was hungry work--and now that
consideration of the matter was forced upon us, we found that we had
with us food barely sufficient for three days. We could, of course, eat
El Sabio--though such was our feeling towards that excellent animal that
eating him would be almost like eating one of ourselves; and Pablo, we
knew, would regard eating this dear friend of his as neither more nor
less than sheer cannibalism. And even if we did eat El Sabio, the meat
of his little body would but prolong our lives for a week, or possibly
for two weeks more. And what then?
Had there been room in our souls for yet more sorrow, we could have had
it in the thought that in all that we had set out to do we had
completely failed. If this Valley of Death were indeed the place that we
had been seeking, little good came to us from finding it. Of the souls
which Fray Antonio had come forth to save, here there were none. Of
archæological discovery, truly, I had something to make me glad; yet
little compared to what was hidden beneath the waters; and even this
little, since knowledge of what I had found soon must die with me, was
of no avail. As for Rayburn and Young, the treasure which they sought
might or might not be near at hand; but they certainly could no more
come at it than, were it heaped up before them, they could carry it
away. And most of all was my heart troubled by the fate that was like to
overtake Pablo because of his love for me. Bitterly I blamed myself for
permitting the boy to come with me; for I should have foreseen that a
hundred chances might intervene to render impossible my intention to
give him his free choice to go or to stay when the decisive
turning-point in our adventure came. In point of fact, one of these
chances had intervened; and the attack upon us that the Indians had
made, and the closing of the passage in the rock behind us that rendered
return impossible, had forced him to remain with us without voice of his
own in the matter; and now would bring him, as it would bring the rest
of us, to the most horrible death of which a man can die.
Night was falling as we ended our search along the cliffs for a way of
escape, and found none, and so came again in front of the great
idol--where our packs had been left heaped up, and where the Wise One,
happily unmindful of the fate that might soon be in store for him, was
energetically cropping the rich grass. We built a fire, for the air in
that deep valley, mingling with the mists rising from the lake, was damp
and chill; and beside the fire we made our evening meal. There was no
good in talking about what was so apparent to all of us; but Young, who
was our cook, showed his appreciation of the situation practically by
serving only half rations and by making our coffee very thin and poor.
Silently we ate our short allowance of food; and thereafter we smoked
our pipes with but little talk for seasoning, and that little of a
melancholy sort. Of our own plight we did not speak at all, but in what
we said there was constantly a reflection of the bitter sorrow with
which all our hearts were charged. I remember that Young, who truly was
as merry a man naturally as ever I knew, told us that night only of
dreadful railroad accidents--of wrecks in which men lay crushed among
the heaped-up cars, shrieking with the agony of their hurts; and then
shrieking with dread, and with yet greater pain as the fire that seized
upon the ruin around them came nearer and nearer until they fairly were
roasted alive. And Rayburn told of a prospecting party besieged by
Indians upon a mountain peak in Colorado; how, one by one, they slowly
died in a raving horror of thirst until one man alone was left; and how
this one man prolonged his life until rescue came by drinking the blood
of his own body, and yet died in raging madness almost at the moment
that he was saved.
For myself, I had nothing to add to these horrors; yet such was my frame
of mind that I found a certain bitter gladness in listening to the
telling of them, and in tracing between them and our own case the
ghastly parallel. In our talk, which wont on in English, Fray Antonio
took no part; but he could follow well enough the meaning of it in our
tones. On his face was an expression of tender melancholy that seemed to
me to tell of sorrow for us rather than of dread of what might be in
store for himself; and that this truly was his mood was shown when the
others paused, sated and appalled by the horrors which they had conjured
up, and he spoke at last.
It was not a sermon that Fray Antonio gave us; but out of the abundant
store of faith by which he himself was sustained he strove to comfort us
with thoughts of better things than life can give. And with the promise
of hope that he held out to us with the solemn authority that was vested
in him by reason of the service to which he was vowed, he mingled a
certain yearning for us, very moving, that came of the love and the
tender gentleness that were in his own heart. And yet, though he knew
that, excepting Pablo, we all were heretics according to his own creed,
there was no word of doctrine in all of his discourse. Rather was what
he said a simple setting forth of that primitive Christianity which has
its beginning and its ending in a simple faith in an all-pervading,
all-protecting love. And of this love, as it seemed to me, he himself
was the human embodiment. Looking in his gentle face, which yet had such
high courage, such noble resolution in it, I felt that in him the spirit
of the saints and martyrs of long past ages lived again.
With our souls soothed and strengthened by what Fray Antonio had spoken
to us, we lay down at last to sleep; yet was it impossible for us to
drive out from our hearts that natural sadness which men must feel who
know that they have failed in a strong effort to accomplish a project
very dear to them, and who know also that they are standing upon the
very threshold of a most tormenting death.
XIII.
UP THE CHAC-MOOL STAIR.
We awoke the next morning at the very moment that the sun rose above the
mountain peaks to the eastward; and our waking was due in part to the
sunshine striking upon our faces, but more to the prodigious braying,
that echoed thunderously from the cliffs around us, with which El Sabio
welcomed the advent of the god of day.
"It is a good sign, señor," said Pablo, "when El Sabio brays thus nobly
at sunrise. He does not do it often, but when he does I know beyond a
doubt that I am to have a lucky day."
"An' I must say," Young struck in, "that for a man who expects t' have
t' eat his boots in th' course of a day or two I'm feelin' this mornin'
most uncommonly chipper myself. For one thing, I mean t' have another
look around that idol. I'm not at all sure that he's not th' tippin'-up
kind. Maybe we didn't put enough weight on him yesterday; or he may do
his tippin' up from th' other end. Anyhow, I'm goin' t' have another
whack at him as soon as I've eat my breakfast; an' that's a performance
that won't take long t' get through with, considerin' how thunderin'
little there is t' eat."
Truly, the eating of our breakfast did not consume much time; and, so
short did Young make our rations, I am not sure that we were not
hungrier at the end of it than we were at its beginning. When we
finished, the sun was still low in the east; and the bright rays struck
full upon the statue of Chac-Mool, on the great stone altar, and into
the depths of the niche that had been hollowed behind it in the face of
the cliff. We observed that the idol was so placed that the very first
rays of the sun, coming through a cleft between two great peaks to the
eastward, shone brightly upon it, while yet all the rest of the valley
save the cliff above the niche remained in shade.
With the strong sunlight deeply penetrating it, the recess behind the
altar no longer was filled with the black shadows that had obscured it
on the previous afternoon; and even the hole into which Young so nearly
had fallen was plainly visible. Taking advantage of the better light,
the lost-freight agent--who certainly had found a fitting berth in that
department of railway service, for such a man for hunting for things,
and for finding them, I never came across--made a more careful
examination of the deeper portion of the recess, and presently he gave a
shout that told of a discovery.
As we gathered around him he pointed in great excitement to a row of
metal pegs, which were fixed in the rock one above the other,
diagonally; and then to the point in the roof of the recess towards
which these pegs tended. Even with the strong light that now aided us
it was some time before I could make out among the black shadows of the
roof a small opening; but the longer that I looked at it the more
distinct it grew.
"We've struck th' trail once more," Young cried. "We've struck it sure.
It don't look promisin', but here it is--for if this ain't th' King's
symbol carved right by th' first of these pegs, then you're all at
liberty t' kick me right smack over th' top of that idol for a d----n
fool! Hurrah!"
Pablo could not understand what Young was saying, but it was easy to
perceive from his gestures the nature of the happy discovery that he had
made. In a tone in which deference and triumph were curiously blended,
Pablo said to me: "Did I not tell you, señor, that a good thing always
happens when El Sabio brays at the rising sun?"
Before Pablo had ended this short but exultant deliverance, Young was
half-way up to the roof of the cave, treading gingerly upon the metal
bolts and testing each one before he trusted his weight to it. In a
couple of minutes he reached the roof and disappeared through the hole;
and almost instantly he called down to us: "We're solid--here's a
regular staircase. Come along!"
We followed him promptly enough; while our hearts thrilled, and all our
bodies trembled, with the gladness that possessed us as we found this
way opening to us from the valley wherein we had thought that surely we
must die. In a little chamber, cut in the rock above the opening into
which the ladder of bolts led us, Young was waiting for us; and from
this chamber a spiral stair-way ascended that was dimly lighted by
crevices cut from it out to the face of the cliff. With Young leading
us, up this we went; at first rapidly, but, later, slowly and wearily,
for it seemed as though the stair would never end. Yet though our bodies
were heavy our spirits were very light; for we know by the wearisome
length of it that the stair must lead to the very top of the towering
cliffs by which we had believed ourselves to be irrevocably shut in. And
at last there was a gleaming of light above us; and this grew stronger
and stronger until we came out with a shout of joy into the glad
sunlight--and saw far below us the valley that we once more thought
beautiful, now that it no longer held us fast.
In the depth below us we could discern El Sabio, looking no bigger then
a rabbit; and he must have caught the sound of our shouting with those
long ears of his, for there came up to us faintly from him an answering
bray.
"It's pretty hard lines on that jackass," said Young, "leaving him
behind down there. But he might be left in a worse place, after all."
I could perceive that Pablo was stirred by uneasy thoughts of the
separation that now so clearly must take place between him and his dear
friend; and he looked wistfully along the path across the mountain to
the westward--cut and smoothed so that it was an easy path to go on--and
evidently thought how simple a matter it would be for El Sabio to travel
on with us if only once he were up the stair. But he did not speak, and
I hoped that he was nerving himself to bear manfully this sore trial.
For the rest of us, we had but one thought: to get our packs up the
stair-way as quickly as possible--and at its quickest this work would be
slowly and painfully done--and then once more go forward. Just as we
turned to descend again an eagle came sailing slowly towards
us--evidently without fear of us--and Rayburn was so fortunate as to
bring him down with a pistol-shot. We tossed him over the edge of the
cliff; and a famous breakfast we made on him when we returned into the
valley again. I can't say that I would have much stomach for so dirty a
bird now, but I certainly did think that eagle most delicious eating
then.
The hearty meal that we made on him strengthened us mightily, and we
went to work with a will at getting our traps up the stair. With our
pack-ropes we hauled the various articles first into the little room at
the stair-foot, and then toilsomely carried them to the heights above.
Saving only that this work did not blister my hands, it was worse than
the building of the raft had been; and all of us, using in climbing and
in descending the stair certain muscles which normally are not brought
often into play, found our legs so stiff and sore for the next day or
two that walking gave us very lively pain.
It was as this heavy work went slowly forward that Pablo said to me,
speaking in an insinuating and deprecating tone: "Up a stair such as
this is, señior, the Wise One would bound like a deer."
I did not call in question Pablo's simile, for I knew that the boy's
heart must be very sad. Laying my hand kindly upon his shoulder, I
answered in a way to show that I was truly sorry for him: "The Wise One
will lead a happy life, Pablo, in this beautiful valley--where nothing
can do him harm, and where he will have an abundance of water and of
rich fresh grass. Up the stair no doubt he could climb, for he knows
wonderfully well how to use those dainty little feet of his; but even
the Wise One could not climb up the ladder of metal bolts. Therefore
must thou strengthen thy heart against the bitterness of this parting
from him; for even if thou wouldst stay behind with him it is not
possible--for thou canst not live, like the Wise One, on water and
grass."
"But he is so little and so light an ass, señor," Pablo urged, "that
surely, all of us pulling together, we could pull him up by the ropes,
even as the other things have been pulled up; surely, surely, señor,
that would be an easy thing for four men to do--and I also can pull at
the ropes, señor, almost as well as any man."
It did not seem to me that even all of us pulling together could sway El
Sabio up a hundred feet through the air; but Pablo was so pitiful in his
entreaties, and seemed so resolutely bent upon remaining behind in the
valley and dying there with his dear friend rather than go on without
him, that I opened the matter to Rayburn and joined my plea to Pablo's
that this curious effort should be made. And in addition to the
sentimental reason for taking the ass with us, I pointed out to
Rayburn--as, indeed, he understood without my telling him--how
practically valuable El Sabio was to us in helping us to bear our heavy
loads. Rayburn thought with me that the dead lift of so considerable a
weight to such a height, without tackle of any sort to help us, was
impossible. But Young, who had an inventive strain in his composition,
was of the opinion that he could set up such rough tackle as would
answer our purpose; upon understanding which, Pablo at once embraced El
Sabio and danced for joy.
Young was, I think, the handiest man I ever knew. He had a natural
genius for mechanics; and in the many years of his railroad life he had
gained a knowledge of all manner of expedients by which the work of
complicated machinery could be accomplished by very simple means. "When
you have a freight smash-up right in the middle of the section," he
said, "with nobody to help you inside of forty miles, and the express
due to come bouncing down on you inside of two hours, you've just _got_
to get things out of the way whether you've got anything to do it with
or not. If I had the equipment of a first-class freight-cab here I'd
yank that burro up inside of twenty minutes; and if I don't do it,
anyway, inside of two hours I'll promise to eat him."
I did not translate the whole of this speech to Pablo, for talk even in
fun about eating El Sabio was rather a delicate matter, considering how
close a shave that worthy animal had had to being eaten in dead earnest;
but I did tell him that the Señor Young felt sure that he could swing El
Sabio up through the air to where the stair began. And with Pablo--who
also could use his hands well--most willingly helping, Young contrived
in a surprisingly short time to make a rough windlass, that was
effective enough for the work to be done with it, and to pull it up bit
by bit into the chamber in the rock and there fit it together over the
hole. El Sabio, being brought into the recess behind the idol, regarded
us all with a doubting expression that even Pablo's repeated assurances
that we meant well by him could not change into a look of trustfulness.
Pablo declared, however, that in his heart of hearts the Wise One knew
that we all were his friends, and that even though we should hurt him a
little he would understand that it was for his good. And the conduct of
the ass during the exceedingly bad half-hour that he then went through
seemed fully to bear out Pablo's words. Around his small body, with
stays running forward around his neck and aft to his tail, we rigged
looped ropes--which ropes were gathered together above his back and
there made fast to the line that was pendent from the windlass above.
From time to time, as this operation was going forward, El Sabio turned
his head upon one shoulder or the other and gazed with a wistful
expression at what we were doing to him; and the slow shake that he gave
his head, whereby his great ears were set to wagging mournfully, as he
finished each of these inspections, betrayed the grave wonder that was
within him as to what it all could mean, together with a not unnatural
apprehension of what might be its ultimate outcome.
By a good chance, the effect upon the Wise One of finding the solid
earth drop suddenly from beneath his feet--when at last all was in
readiness, and Young and Rayburn began to hoist away at the
windlass--was to render him quite rigid with terror; and there was a
most agonized look upon his face as he went sailing up through the air.
Pablo, standing below with me, that we might steady the ass with a
guy-rope during his ascent, addressed to him all manner of tender and
comforting words; but for once the Wise One seemed to be insensible to
his master's voice. Neither with his eyes nor his ears did he respond;
and he well enough might have been taken for a dead ass going
heavenward, but for the sharp twitchings of his tail. And when at last
he was safely within the upper chamber, he fairly fell down upon the
rocky floor of it in sheer exhaustion begot of fright. It was not until
we had passed up a bucket of water to him, whereof he drank the very
last drop, and had been soothed by Pablo's fondling of him and by
Pablo's gentle words, that his broken spirit revived. And so limp and
weak was he that it was a long while before we could in conscience urge
him to ascend the stair. When at last he set himself to this
undertaking, he was far from accomplishing it in the bounding and
deer-like manner that Pablo had promised for him; but he certainly did
at last get to the top--which was all that was required of him--and
there drank gratefully the bucketful of water that Pablo had carried up
that great height for his comforting when his toilsome climbing should
end. And Pablo went down into the valley once more that night in order
to bring back to his friend a hearty supper of rich grass.
[Illustration: EL SABIO'S PREDICAMENT]
By the time that all this hard work was accomplished the day was nearly
at an end; and even had there been light for us to see our way by we
were too tired to go on--for every bone and muscle in our bodies was
weary and sore. Therefore we made our camp for the night on the flat
expanse of rock where the stair ended; and we were thankful that enough
of the eagle remained to us for our supper--and, indeed, we made our
breakfast on him also, for he was a prodigiously large bird. Very
different were our feelings as we wrapped ourselves in our blankets and
settled ourselves to sleep on that open mountain-top--with the path
clear before us, and with the cheering hope in our hearts that among the
mountains we should find a plenty of wild creatures suitable for
food--from the dull despairing languor that had possessed us as we sank
to sleep the night before. And with our joy was also a reverent
thankfulness--that was more strongly stimulated by certain words which
Fray Antonio spoke ere we lay down to rest--that our deliverance was
accomplished from that death-stricken valley wherein we ourselves so
surely had expected that we must die.
XIV.
THE HANGING CHAIN.
By the winding way which we followed along the mountain-top (and that
this was the way we wished to follow the King's symbol and the pointing
arrow plainly showed), we came presently close beside the rift in the
cliffs through which the waters of the upper lake had been discharged
upon the city in the valley below and so had buried it. And here we made
a very surprising discovery--which was no less than that the great rift
in the rocks through which the water had been let loose was not, as we
had supposed, the result of some fierce convulsion of nature, but very
plainly was the fiercer work of man. Along the face of the opening
whence the water had poured forth the rock was grooved, showing that
drill-holes had been made, close together, from the edge of the cliff
backward to the lake that once had filled all the valley now lying bare
and empty before us; and with the field-glass we could see that there
was a like channelling of the rock upon the farther side of the break.
And all doubt in our minds in regard to this matter was removed by our
finding a vastly long drill--made of the bright, hard metal that we now
were familiar with, yet could not at all understand its
composition--lying close beside the chasm upon the bare rock.
"There has been the devil's own work here!" said Rayburn, as he fully
took in this extraordinary situation. "Whoever did this must have spent
months over it, perhaps years, working with such tools as these. They
evidently went at it systematically, with the deliberate intention of
drowning the whole crowd down below. From an engineering stand-point I
must say that it's a good piece of work. See how cleverly they've picked
out this particular spot, where the wall of rock went down almost
perpendicularly into the lake, and so got the full value of the thrust
of the water when their cuts were finished. If I'm not mistaken, there
was a third line of drill-holes sunk in the middle of the mass that they
meant to cut loose. That's the way I should have done it: then there
would have been a little giving in the centre that would have helped to
loosen the sides. But what a lot of incarnate devils they must have been
to go at such a job!"
Truly, there was something chilling to the blood in the thought of the
slow labor of them who had toiled here, day after day and month after
month, until their ghastly purpose was accomplished, and they had slain
a whole city without striking a single honest blow. Such vengeance upon
an enemy as here was taken never had its equal for cold, malignant
cruelty since the world began. Down in the valley below we had seen
gleaming beneath the calm surface of the lake the bones of the thousands
who had perished when this diabolical work was completed, and the waters
bounded forth, shining and sparkling in the sunlight, on their mission
of death. And whoever let them loose must have stood just where we now
were standing; and at sight of what came of their long labor there must
have been such joy as no hell could adequately punish in their black
hearts.
Our bodies shuddered as we turned and left the scene of this tremendous
tragedy; that was the more appalling to us because of the profound
mystery in which was buried everything related to it save the fact that
it had been.
For a long distance our way went onward beside the bare, deep valley
that had been the basin of the lake, and so the thought of the horror
which had been wrought so devilishly with its innocent waters lingered
gloomily in our minds. Involuntarily we associated the unknown people of
a long past time who had perpetrated this hideous wholesale murder with
the people for whom we now were searching, and an uncertain dread filled
our souls as to what might be our own fate should we end by finding what
we sought. From the tender mercies of a race in which stealthy craft and
cold, malignant cruelty evidently were such conspicuous characteristics,
little was to be expected. Therefore, it was in a sombre mood, and with
but little talk among us, that we went forward upon our way.
The path that we followed showed the same care in the making of it that
we had found in the path leading down from the cañon into the valley
where the drowned city was. Throughout the length of it, by carrying it
skilfully along the windings of the mountain-sides, an equable, easy
grade was maintained; where it led across open spaces the loose stones
had been cleared away and stood heaped along each side of it; where it
skirted precipices the solid rock had been cut out in order to give a
wider and a surer foothold; and here and there in its course crevices
which traversed it were bridged with great slabs of stone. Rayburn was
lost in admiration of the engineering skill that was shown in its
construction, and declared that a very little extra work put on it would
fit it for the laying of a line of rails.
The valley on our right, in which the lake had been, narrowed as we
advanced; and as the path that we followed had a steadily rising grade
(according to Rayburn's estimate, of a trifle more than three per
cent.), the bottom of it fell away rapidly. As we reached what had been,
as we found, the foot of the lake, we discovered fresh evidence of the
enormous amount of labor that had been expended in order to make its
waters an effective engine of destruction. Far in the depths beneath us,
extending across the whole width of the valley--but here the valley had
so narrowed that it was less a valley than a cañon--we saw a high and
vastly broad stone wall. It was then that we perceived fully the whole
of the devilish design, and realized the years that must have been given
to its execution. By the building of the wall the level of the lake had
been raised fully three hundred feet, and so a head of water had been
obtained strong enough to thrust out the mass of rock that had been
loosened by drilling through its centre and at its sides. It would have
been possible, also, for the rock that was to be broken away to be
greatly thinned by quarrying its open face while the water was rising
slowly after the great dam was built. Clearly, the whole work had been
planned with a calm, diabolical ingenuity that assured with absolute
certainty the accomplishment of the horrible purpose that those who
labored at it had in view. It seemed impossible, but for the proof that
we here had of it, that human hearts could have in them enough of purely
devilish cruelty to spend years in thus working out to perfection so
hideous a vengeance; and to me it seemed all the more dreadful because
of the time that had passed since this most evil deed was done.
Centuries had vanished, and the slayers--living out the few years of
their lifetime--had perished from off the earth as utterly as had the
slain; yet here the whole proof of the great crime that had been wrought
lived on in enduring stone that was like to last until the very end of
the world should come. Thus had these sinners left behind them, raised
by their own hands, a monument telling of their sin; which sin had not
even the redeeming quality of passionateness, but was slow and subtle
and cruelly cold.
We were glad to turn from sight of this place and press onward into the
cañon, for such the valley now had become; and we found in the dark
shadows which enveloped us in this deep cleft between the mountains a
sombreness in keeping with the feelings in our hearts. So high above us
towered the cliffs that at their top they seemed almost to meet, showing
between them only a narrow ribbon of bright blue sky, and below us the
chasm went down sheer for a thousand feet; a gloomy depth that our eyes
could not have penetrated had there not gleamed at the bottom of it the
foam and sparkle of a little stream. Here the path was hewn almost
continuously out of the solid rock; and we could see that a like path
was cut in the rock on the other side. That so prodigious a piece of
work should be thus duplicated seemed to us a very astonishing waste of
energy; for even Young did not have much faith in his own suggestion
that two prehistoric railway companies had secured rights of way along
the opposite sides of the cañon, and had begun the building there of
rival lines.
But the matter was explained, presently, by our finding that this other
path was but a doubling of the path that we were on. As we rounded a
turn in the cañon we came suddenly to a broad natural ledge in the rock,
over which hung a great projection of the cliff so that the sky above
was hid from us. Here our path went off into the air, and began again on
the other side of the vastly deep chasm, a good sixty feet away. "Rather
long for a jump," was Rayburn's curt comment as we pulled up on the edge
of the precipice and looked at each other blankly. Yet it was evident
that those who had made with such great expense of toil and time these
path-ways on the opposite sides of the cañon had crossed in some way
from the one to the other at this point, and the only surmise that
seemed to fit the facts of the case was that there had been stretched
across the chasm a swinging bridge of _lianas_--such as still are to be
found spanning streams in the hot lands of Mexico--and that in the
course of ages this had rotted entirely away. But as this bridge, if
ever there had been one here, was absolutely gone, we found ourselves in
as shrewdly strait a place as men well could be in. To go ahead was as
clearly impossible as was the hopelessness of turning back upon our
path. At the most, we could only return to the valley out of which we
had climbed with such thankfulness; and rather than go back to die of
starvation in that place, so beautiful and so desolate, there was not
one of us but would have chosen to end all quickly by springing into
the gulf above which we stood.
But while we thus stood in dreary contemplation of the miserable
prospect before us, Young, as his habit was, was spying about him
sharply, and so spied out a way of deliverance for us. The announcement
of his discovery was made in a very characteristic way.
"You set up to be some punkins of an engineer, now don't you?" he said,
addressing Rayburn. "But did you ever happen to hear of a bridge that
was hung up at one end an' that was operated by swingin' it backward an'
forward like a pendulum?"
"No," Rayburn answered, promptly and decisively, "I never did."
"So I thought," Young went on. "Well, you've admitted that in sev'ral
things th' man who was in charge of construction on this line could have
given you points, an' this swingin' bridge notion is one of 'em. I can't
say that I think much of it. It wouldn't do in railroads, for sure; but
there is a good deal to be said in favor of it when it helps folks out
of such a hole as we're in now--an' if it still is in workin' order,
that is just what it's going to do. There it is. Do you catch on?"
We all looked in the direction in which Young pointed, for his gesture
was so earnest that even Fray Antonio and Pablo caught the meaning of
it, and so saw--pendent from a point far up on the overhang of rock, and
but indistinctly showing in the shadow--a great chain that at its lower
end was caught in a metal hook set in the face of the cliff at the
extreme back of the ledge on which we stood. For my part, I did not at
once catch the meaning of Young's words even when I saw the chain, but
Rayburn understood it all in a moment.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "that _is_ a notion! You grab the end of it and
just swing across to the other side!"
Young already had loosened the chain from the hook and was testing its
strength by putting his weight on it. At the end of it was a crossbar
big enough to get a good grip upon; and this, and the chain itself, were
wrought of the bright, hard metal of which we had encountered so many
specimens. The upper end was made fast high above us in the out-jut of
rock, very nearly over the centre of the cañon; so that no great force
was required to carry whoever grasped the crossbar, and so swung out
boldly, clear across the chasm to the ledge on the other side. But I
confess that the thought of such a passage made me feel a little dizzy
and sick; and never did I long to be safely back in my class-room at Ann
Arbor as I did just then!
"It seems t' be all right," said Young, "but I guess you may as well
take a pull on it with me, Rayburn. There'd be no fun in havin' it fetch
away when a man was about half across, an' we may as well make th' thing
sure." And then, as the chain still held firm under the double strain,
he added, "Well, here goes;" and, so speaking, took a running start and
went swinging out over the abyss.
My heart was in my mouth as he leaped forth and shot out from and far
below us; but in a moment he rose along the curve that he was traversing
and was safely landed on the other side. "It's a boss invention.
Workin' it is just as easy as rollin' off a log," he called across to
us; and to show how easily the passage was made, he instantly swung
himself back again.
Pablo had manifested signs of strong uneasiness while this talk and
action were in progress, and in a very anxious tone he now inquired:
"But how will it be with the Wise One, señor?"
"Why, gettin' _him_ across will be as easy as open an' shut," Young
answered, speaking in English to Rayburn and to me. "We'll just rig him
in th' rope slings again, an' make him fast to th' chain, an' give him a
good boost to start him, and over he'll go before he fairly knows he's
started."
But when we came to apply this brisk statement of the case practically,
we found it by no means easy of execution. El Sabio grew restive as we
arranged the slings of rope about his body, evidently remembering,
fearfully, the strange journey that he had made in the air when we had
rigged him in a like manner in order to trice him up to where the stair
began; and he grew yet more restive as we fastened the rope slings to
the end of the chain. Rayburn had crossed to the other side--passing the
chain back by weighting it with a rock--and stood ready to receive El
Sabio when he was swung across. But partly owing to a want of skill in
our management of him, yet more to his own unruliness--for just as we
started him, with a strong push, he clapped down his fore-feet upon the
edge of the cliff and so checked his swing outward--he did not swing
within reach of Rayburn's hands. And so he came back towards us again,
and then out once more towards Rayburn; and so swung slowly and yet more
slowly until at last he hung motionless over the very middle of the
gulf, with nothing between him and the rocks below but a thousand feet
of air. And then El Sabio began to kick with a vigor that set to
rattling every link in the chain!
Pablo was cast by this mischance into a veritable frenzy of fright; and
we were most seriously frightened also--not only because the destruction
of the poor ass was imminent, but because of the danger which menaced
ourselves. Our party was divided, and should the chain give way, under
stress of El Sabio's kicks and plunges, all possibility of our coming
together again was at an end. Rayburn might leave us and go on; and so,
perhaps, save his own life. But for the rest of us there would be no
hope. Behind us was death by starvation. In front of us was this
impassable gulf.
From Pablo, who was quite wild with dreadful anticipations of the
parting of the chain and the loss to him forever of his friend, least
was to be expected in the strait wherein we were; yet it was from Pablo
that our rescue came. With a quick apprehension of the needs of the
case, he rove a running-knot in the end of one of the pack-ropes, and
with a dexterous cast of this improvised lasso set the loop of it about
El Sabio's neck as that unfortunate animal for a moment ceased his
strugglings and hung still. And then we all strained on the rope
together, and in a minute had El Sabio safely with us again; but in such
a state of terror that pity for him wrung our hearts.
But the limpness which the reaction from such deadly fear threw him into
made handling him easy; and this time, when we launched him forth
(taking the precaution, however, to fasten one end of a rope to the
chain), he went sailing across the full width of the chasm, and Rayburn
in a moment had him landed in safety. The instant that the chain was
loosened Pablo hauled it back, and an instant later swung lightly across
the cañon, and straightway fell to fondling the terrified creature and
comforting him with all manner of tender words. And he so piteously
besought us to give El Sabio one good drink that we passed the water-keg
and the bucket across, and permitted the poor ass to drink half of our
stock of water without debate of the sacrifice. Indeed, this refreshment
was so necessary to him that without it I doubt if he could have gone
on.
While El Sabio thus gathered courage and strength again, Young swung
over to the other side, and we passed our stores across from ledge to
ledge--having ropes made fast to the chain, and so steadying each load
from the one side while we hauled from the other. This was easy work,
and we quickly finished it. When it was ended I braced myself for the
flying journey through the air across that gulf so deep that the bottom
of it was lost in black shadows, through which the sparkling water
faintly gleamed; and my heart so throbbed within me as I took the bar in
my hands, with the knowledge that should I lose hold of it death waited
for me below in those dark shadows, that my breath came irregularly and
I heard a dismal ringing in my ears. Yet I had less to fear than either
of the others who had crossed before me, for the ropes still were fast
to the chain; and should I not swing far enough I would be helped to
safety by my companions. But for shame, I should have made my body fast
to the chain by a rope sling, and so have gone across as our stores had
gone rather than as a man. But my pride forbade my surrender in this
fashion to my fears; and it was a lucky thing for me that it did.
Holding the bar in my hands, I ran briskly across the ledge, and, with a
strong kick on the edge of the cliff to give me additional impetus, I
went spinning out into space. For an age, as it seemed to me, I sank
rapidly; while that horrible feeling possessed me--the like of which
people subject to sea-sickness feel as the ship drops away beneath them
into the trough of the sea--of falling away from my own stomach. And
then, just as my strength seemed to be failing, and my hold on the bar
loosing, I perceived that I was rising again; and this put a little
fresh heart in me, and I tightened my grip on the bar. Ten seconds, no
doubt, was the full extent of the time that my passage consumed; but it
seemed to me then, and it seems to me still as I think of it, a long ten
years. And a thrill of terror goes through me as I think also of how
near I then came to a horrible death; for at the very moment that I
reached the farther side of the cañon there was a little tinkling sound
in the air above me, and the bar that I held was twitched out of my
hands, and then came a loud jingling of metal on rock, and as I turned
quickly I saw a gleam of sunlight catch the great chain as it went
twisting downward into the black gulf below.
XV.
THE TEMPLE IN THE CLOUDS.
Doubtless the violent strain to which the chain had been subjected by El
Sabio's kicking and plunging had loosened the fastenings, centuries old,
which held it to the rock; for the chain had not broken, but had come
away entire. I sank down on the rock as weak with terror as the poor ass
had been; and like him I drank greedily of water, and panted for a
while, and at last found my courage coming back to me.
Yet my case was a happy one compared with that of Fray Antonio.
Howsoever narrow my escape had been, the fact remained that I had come
out from my encounter with Death safe and unharmed; but on Fray
Antonio's shoulder we could but dread that Death already had laid his
hand. And that he knew how close to him Death was standing we could see
by a certain elate and confident air of courage in his bearing, and by
the wonderful tenderness and sweetness of his smile. Truly, never did I
know a man so ready at all times as this man was to lay down the life
that God had given him; holding it but as a trust that might at any
moment be called back to the source whence it came. Yet because it was a
trust, meant to be put to useful purposes, Fray Antonio valued his life
and cared for it. And at this time it was he himself who devised a plan
by which it might be saved.
The ropes which were fastened to the chain, being held stoutly on the
one side by Fray Antonio and on the other by Young, fortunately had
broken as the great weight of the chain suddenly had come upon them, and
had broken so close to the knots which held them that nearly the whole
of their length remained. The plan that the monk now devised for coming
across to us--and a bold heart was required even to think of this daring
enterprise--was that with the two ropes fastened about his body at one
end, and held by all of us at the other, he should swing down into the
chasm and far under the promontory of rock on which we stood, and then
that we should haul him up to us. The great difficulty in the way of
executing this plan was in getting the line across between us; its great
danger lay in the probability--notwithstanding the depth of the recess
beneath us--that he would be dashed against the rocks with such force as
to kill him outright.
But Young, who usually was ready for any emergency that might arise,
roused out a ball of twine that was a part of our stores, and one end of
this he made fast to a fragment of rock, and by a strong heave of it
landed it safe on the other side; whereafter the rigging of the double
rope across was an easy matter.
Very carefully, testing the knots as he made them, Fray Antonio fastened
the double line about his body, beneath his shoulders, and so stood
ready on the edge of the chasm; while we four stood holding the line,
with all our muscles braced for the strain that would come upon it as
he swung downward. For a moment he paused, with his face turned upward
while his lips moved. Then he waved his hand, and smiled as he called
across to us, "It is as God wills!" and so dropped away from the ledge,
and like a flash went down beyond our range of sight.
We felt the jar on the ropes as his body struck against the face of the
cliff far below us, and the reflex action as he swung out again, and
thereafter the slower motion of the ropes as he swayed back and forth
dangling over that black and awful chasm. And as the ropes settled into
steadiness we drew him up towards us; yet dreaded, because of the dull
weight of it, and because no assuring cry came up to us, that what we
lifted was a corpse.
And, in truth, as we raised the body of Fray Antonio over the edge of
the cliff it seemed as though this dread were realized; for a great
bloody gash was upon his temple, and his limbs were limp and lifeless,
and his face was deathly pale. At sight of which there came into my
heart a bursting pain, as though some one had stabbed me there; and
there were tears in Young's eyes; and Rayburn gave vent to his sorrow in
a great curse that was half a groan. As for Pablo, whom no danger could
daunt, and who would bear without flinching any hurt of his own, this
dreadful sight so moved him that he fainted dead away.
Yet even in the moment that such deep sorrow seemed to be settling down
upon us, Fray Antonio slightly moved his lips, and there came forth from
them a low faint sigh--whereupon Young jumped up with a shout and
relieved his mind by administering to Pablo a hearty kick, which he
accompanied with the remark: "You infernal fool of a Greaser Indian,
what do you mean by swoundin'? He ain't dead at all!"
As tenderly as I could for the trembling of my hands, I washed away the
blood from about the cut and bathed Fray Antonio's pale face, while
Rayburn gave him a sup of whiskey from his flask. And then, presently,
his eyes opened and energy came into his body once more. In a little
while he was on his feet again, and as well as ever, save for the
smarting of his cut, and in his head a dizziness and a dull throbbing
pain. Just what had happened he could not tell. He knew that he had
struck against the rock with his feet, as he had planned to do; but he
must have swung around, when the force of the impact had been thus
partly broken, and struck his head against some sharp projection, and so
have been cut and stunned. But it made no great difference how his hurt
had come to him, since it had not proved to be a deadly one; therefore
we forbore to question him further concerning it, and sought by quiet
talk, that led softly into silence, to take his thoughts away from the
peril that he had been in. Indeed, we all were glad to rest quietly
where we were for the night, for our bodies were tired and our nerves
were racked and strained.
We should have been most thankful for a big potful of coffee, but there
was no wood with which we could make a fire. The best that we could do,
and there was not much comfort in it, was to chew some coffee grains
after we had made a supper upon one of our few remaining tins of meat;
and then we rolled ourselves in our blankets and lay down upon the bare
rock. And I must say that if anybody had asked me at that moment if
archæology was a study that paid for the trouble that it cost, I should
have said most unhesitatingly that it was not.
Even sleep, which I greatly needed, and for which I earnestly longed,
did not come to me easily; for each time that I seemed to be dropping
gently away into unconsciousness I would be roused by the feeling that I
was holding fast to the chain again, and so was sliding down the long
curve among the shadows, with the great walls of the cañon towering
infinitely above me, and with the black depth below. And in my sleep I
made again the dreadful passage, and heard the clinking of the chain as
it parted, and the rattle of it as it struck the rocks, and felt the
grasp of Rayburn as he caught me, just as the bar was twitched out of my
hands--and so woke to find Young shaking me, and to hear him say:
"There's no earthly sense in your kickin' around that way, Professor;
an', anyhow, it's time t' get up. It's just a wonder how these Mexican
mornin's put life into a man. Why, there's a freshness in th' air that's
goin' t' waste in this cañon that's fit t' make a coffin stand right up
on end an' dance a jig!"
Even Fray Antonio, but for the soreness of his hurt, felt strong and
well; and we ate another tin of meat--which was much less than we
wanted to eat--and so started along the path hewn out of the side of the
cliff; and what with the brightness and joyfulness of the morning, we
certainly were in much higher spirits than was at all reasonable in the
case of men who had had such close companionship with Death so short a
time before, and who still stood a very fair chance of dying dismally of
starvation. The knowledge that, by the falling of the chain, our retreat
had been again cut off did not at all trouble us. Even could we have
crossed the cañon, and so have retraced our steps, we could have gone no
farther than the valley of the lake; and we could as well die here as
there. And we were stayed by the reasonable conviction that the path
which we were travelling upon certainly would lead us out of the
mountains at last--even if it did not lead us to the hidden city that we
sought.
For five or six miles we doubled on our course of the day before, going
back along the cañon and seeing the path that we had followed a little
below us on the other side; then, by a very easy grade, our course began
to ascend, and went on rising until the other path was so far below us
that it ceased to be distinguishable. Thus we came to within a few
hundred feet of the top of the cliffs, when a sudden turn to the left
carried us into a narrow cleft in the rock. Here the path was very
sharply inclined upward for a little way; and for the remainder of the
distance to the top we ascended a long series of rudely cut steps, so
steep that our legs fairly cracked under us as we neared the end of
them.
But we forgot our weariness as we came out upon the summit at last, and
a great view of clouds and mountain peaks burst upon us; the like of
which I never have seen approached save by the view out over the
Gunnison country from the crest of the Marshall Pass. But here we saw
all around us what there is seen only in one direction; for we were on a
vastly high, square crest--very like that called the Gigante, which the
traveller by the Mexican Central Railroad sees to the left as he nears
Silao--and clouds and mountain peaks rose up about us on every side.
But we did not long contemplate this heroic landscape, for a cloud,
which almost enveloped us as we finished our ascent of the stair, was
swept still farther away by the brisk wind then blowing; so that
suddenly a vast building loomed largely through the flying vapor, and in
a moment was clear and distinct before our eyes. To find upon this bare
mountain-top, among cloud solitudes so profound as these, such
overpowering evidence of the labor and strength of man, sent thrilling
through our breasts a wonder that was akin to awe. It seemed unreal,
impossible, that in such a place such work could be accomplished; and
the very tangible reality of it made it seem to me one of those
prodigies of man's creation which old stories tell of as having been
wrought by a league with the devil and at the cost of a human soul.
Had there been any signs at all of human life about this solemn and
majestic building, or upon the mountain-top whereon it stood, the
chilling hold that it took upon our imaginations would have been less
strong. What wrought upon us was the deadly silence, and the absolute
stillness of everything save the drifting clouds. It seemed to us as
though we had come out from the living world and our own time into a
dead region belonging to a long dead past; and I remembered with a
shudder that we had entered this region through that gloomy cavern,
where hundreds of the ancient dead were clustered in silent worship
about the great silent idol carved in everlasting stone. It seemed as
though some evil spell hung over us, that doomed us forever to wander in
wild solitudes--which were the more appalling because constantly uprose
before us tangible evidence of the strong current of eager human life
that had pulsed through them in former times. Young but put into his own
rough language the thought that was in all our hearts when he declared,
with a great oath, that for the sake of getting safe out of this lonely
hole he'd contract to fight Indians three days in every week for the
rest of his life, and be glad to do it for the comfort of having
somebody around who was alive.
XVI.
AT THE BARRED PASS.
The whole top of the mountain, near a mile square, had been so levelled
by nature that little remained to be done for its further smoothing by
the hand of man. But the amount of work that had gone into the mere
preparation for the building of the great temple was almost incredible.
In the centre of the plateau a pyramidal mass of rock near a thousand
feet square, of a piece with the mountain itself, had been so shaped and
hewn that it rose in three great terraces to the square apex on which
the temple stood. These terraces slanted upward, surrounding the pyramid
by a continuously ascending way that had its beginning and its ending in
the centre of the eastern front--so that, allowing for the diminishing
size of the pyramid, the distance by this way from the bottom to the top
of it was more than a mile and a half.
"It just took a slow-goin', lazy heathen Greaser t' think out a thing
like this," Young observed as we went up the path. "Now, if th'
Congregationalists that I was brought up among had put a church on a
place like this--an' they wouldn't have been likely t' be fools enough
t' do anything of th' sort--they'd 'a' had a set of steps runnin' smack
from th' bottom t' th' top, an' folks would have got up in no time. It's
just th' Greaser fashion all over t' spend a hundred years or so in
makin' a path five miles long around a hill about as high as th' Boston
State-house, so's they can get up it easy an' save their wind. But I
wish they'd put in drinkin' fountains along th' road. I'm as thirsty as
a salt cod--an' there's so precious little water left in th' keg that
I'm afraid t' begin at it for fear of suckin' it all up."
"Drinking fountains?" Rayburn, who was a little in advance, called back
to us. "Well, so they did. Come along and drink as much as you want to."
"Cut that, Rayburn," Young answered. "I'm too dead in earnest about my
being thirsty to stand any foolin'."
"I'm not fooling"--we had caught up with him by this time--"look for
yourself."
To which Young's only reply was to spring forward eagerly and drink a
long deep draught from a stone basin beside the path into which trickled
a tiny stream from above. Finding water in this unlikely place was as
great a surprise as it was a joy to us; for we all longed for it, yet
dared not drink freely because our supply was nearly gone. It was
touching to hear the long sigh of happiness that El Sabio gave when at
last he lifted his dripping snout out of the basin; and then to see the
look that he gave Pablo, as though to thank him for so blessedly
plentiful a drink. In truth, the Wise One had not tasted a drop of water
for nearly twenty-four hours--not since his perilous passage of the
cañon--and his throat, and his poor little inside generally, must have
been very dry.
When we came out on the top of the pyramid at last, which at that moment
was wrapped in clouds almost as dense as London fog, we perceived the
ingenious plan that had been adopted in order to secure water
plentifully on this mountain-top. By careful scoring of the rock with
many little channels, all leading to a cistern that seemed to be of
great dimensions, the warm vapor of the clouds as it condensed into
water on touching the chill stone surface was captured and safely stored
away. And from the overflow of the cistern the fountain below was fed.
But we did not stop to examine very carefully into this matter, so eager
were we to press on to the temple close before us. This stood upon a
terraced platform, cut from the living rock, and was a perfectly plain
structure--with walls slightly receding inward as they rose, and wholly
destitute of ornamentation. For its majestic effect it depended upon its
great size and upon its admirable proportions; and being built of the
dark rock of which the mountain was formed, and having about it much of
the sombre feeling that characterizes Egyptian architecture, it had an
air of great solemnity and gloom.
In silence we ascended the short flight of steps that led to the broad,
doorless entrance--the only opening through the massive walls--and so
came into the vast shadowy hall that these great walls enclosed. From
front to back of this hall extended many rows of stone pillars--like the
single row found in the great chamber among the ruins of Mitla--and by
these were upheld the huge slabs of stone of which the roof was made.
Far away from where we stood, down at the end of a long vista of
pillars, was a stone altar on which was carved in stone a colossal
figure of the god Chac-Mool. Looking back through the open entrance, I
saw a break in the mountain peaks to the eastward; and so perceived that
the first rays of the rising sun must needs enter here and strike full
upon the disk that was poised in the figure's hands. As Pablo caught
sight of the great idol recumbent there, a momentary shudder went
through him and he made certain motions with his hand before his eyes
that were strange to me.
As we drew near to the altar we found that in front of it was a
sacrificial stone, still darkly stained where blood had flowed upon it;
and beneath the stone neck-yoke, still resting there, was a withered
remnant of human vertebræ. There was something very ghastly in
finding--preserved by the very stone that had held him down while life
was let out of him--this mere scrap of the last human victim who had
perished here. As in the desolate valley, so also on this desolate
mountain-top, the only proof that human life ever had been here was
found in proof of human death.
Save that our curiosity was gratified, and the blessing of the water
which we found, our ascent of the great pyramid and our examination of
the temple bore no fruit. Young, who still seemed to think that tilting
up and disclosing secret passages was an attribute of all statues of the
god Chac-Mool, was here again convinced that his generalization from a
single case was not a sound one. In a serious way--that in itself would
have been laughable but for the gloom of our surroundings--he climbed
upon the altar and sat first on the head of the god, and then on his
feet, and even tried the effect of seating himself upon the stone disk
that the god upheld above his navel. But through all of these
experiments the stone figure remained solidly immovable.
"I guess there was only one o' that tippin' kind," Young said, at last,
"an' he sort o' flocked by himself. Let's get out of here, anyway. If
this ever was the Aztec bank that we're lookin' for, there must have
been a prehistoric run on it that cleaned it out. They must have done
that sort o' thing in old times, eh, Professor? But it don't make much
difference to us now what they did or what they didn't; an' we'd better
fill up with water an' get out--that is, if there is any way of gettin'
out except along the way we came. There's no good in goin' back that
way. It would be better t' settle down here an' starve comfortably
without wearin' out shoe-leather doin' it. But I don't mean t' do that
until I've had a look all around th' top of this god-forsaken mountain,
an' made sure that there's only one way down."
My own thoughts had been dwelling on the possibility that Young's words
expressed; for at this definite point to which we had come, the path
that we had come by very reasonably might end--so leaving us in this
lonely region among the clouds to die slowly for lack of food. And there
was a certain fitness in our having made our way so far among the dead
only ourselves to die that added sombre fancies to our environment of
sombre realities. Yet there was a heartiness in Young's resolutely
expressed determination to search for a way out of our difficulties
before at all yielding to them that insensibly cheered me. His words had
a plucky ring to them; and bravery is as catching as is fear.
Our empty water-kegs were at the bottom of the pyramid, and when we
reached the fountain on our downward way we waited there while Pablo
went on with El Sabio and fetched them up to us. There was at least
solid comfort in knowing, as we went on downward with the kegs all
filled, that, whatever other death might come to us, at least we could
not die of thirst. At the bottom of the pyramid we left Fray Antonio and
Pablo, with El Sabio and the packs, and the three of us set out to
explore the three sides of the mountain-top that were unknown to us in
search of a downward path. A heavy mass of clouds had drifted over the
mountain again, so thick that at a rod away all was white mist around
us; and the light was growing faint, for the day had come nearly to an
end. Indeed, had we been upon the lower levels of the earth night would
have been already upon us.
Making my way along the edge of the precipice, where the plateau broke
sheer off, was ticklish work; and half humorous, half melancholy
thoughts went through my mind touching the absurdity of an ex-professor
of Topical Linguistics in the University of Michigan being thus employed
in path-hunting upon a lonely mountain-top in Mexico. Truly, adversity
brings us strange bedfellows; but far stranger are the straits into
which a man comes who takes up with the study of archæology at
first-hand. But my path-hunting was without result, for nowhere along
the edge of the plateau was there a break fit for the descent of any
creature save such as had wings. At the end of near an hour the clouds
once more lifted; and then I saw Rayburn coming towards me, but with a
serious look upon his face that told that he also had been unsuccessful
in his search.
"It has rather a bad look, Professor," he said, briefly, when I had told
him that along all the face of the mountain that I had examined the rock
went down sheer. He filled his pipe and lighted it, and we walked back
to the base of the pyramid in silence, while he smoked. Young had not
returned; but presently we heard a shout that had so hopeful a sound in
it as to start us both to our feet and forth to meet him.
"Have you found a way down?" Rayburn called, as he came nearer to us.
"You bet I have," he called back; "and, what's more, I've seen somethin'
to eat."
"_Seen_ something!" Rayburn answered, as he joined us. "Why the dickens
didn't you _get_ it?"
"Well, because it was better'n a mile away from me. It looked like a
mountain sheep, as well as I could make out; but there it was for sure;
an' thinkin' how good that critter will taste roasted has given me a
regular twistin' pain all through my empty inside! But th' point is that
down on that side o' th' mountain there's game; I saw birds, too, but I
couldn't make out what they were; an', somehow, it looks different down
there. It don't look like these d--n dead places we've been prowlin'
through for more'n a coon's age. It looks as if God remembered it, an'
it was _alive_! Why, th' very smell that came up had somethin' good
about it; an' there was a different taste to th' air. I tell you,
Rayburn, I didn't know what a lonely an' mis'rable an' lost chump sort
of a way I was in until I looked over there into that place where th'
whole business ain't run by dead folks. An' what's more, Professor,
that's the trail for us; for, right where it starts down, there's th'
King's symbol an' th' arrow, all reg'lar, blazed on th' rock."
"Is the trail good enough to make a start on now?" Rayburn asked; "we
won't have more than half an hour more light, but I'd give a lot to get
off this mountain before dark, and every foot down that we go we'll be
that much warmer. We'd stand a pretty fair chance of freeing up here
to-night without any fire."
"Th' trail's all right for a good half-mile, anyway," Young answered;
"an' I guess it's good all th' way. It's pretty much th' same as th' one
we come up by, an' that's good enough, where it don't jump cañons, t' go
along in th' dark; but we must rustle if we mean t' do much by
daylight."
We were back at the pyramid by this time, and we found Fray Antonio very
willing to be off with us that we might try to get well down the
mountain before night set in; for at that great elevation the quick
beating of his heart added very sensibly to the throbbing pain of his
wound. Therefore we lost no time in getting our packs upon our backs,
and upon the back of El Sabio, and briskly started downward; and the
keen cold that came into the air, as the sun sunk away behind the
mountain peaks at last, warned us that it was safer to take the risks of
a descent almost in darkness than to stay for the night upon that bleak
mountain-top without a fire.
In twenty minutes we perceived a comforting change in the temperature;
and at the end of an hour--during the last half of which we walked
slowly and cautiously through the fast-thickening darkness--there was
enough warmth in the air about us to make camping for the night
endurable. But we still were at a great elevation, and the thin air was
bitingly keen, and all the more so because of the scant meal that we
had to comfort us and to put strength into us before we wrapped
ourselves in our blankets for sleep.
"What's a mis'rable two pounds of corned-beef among five of us," Young
exclaimed, in a tone of angry contempt, "when every man in th' lot is
hungry enough t' eat th' whole of it, an' th' tin box it comes in, an'
then go huntin' for a square meal? An' t' think o' that sheep I saw! I
say, Rayburn, did you ever eat a roast fore-shoulder of mutton, with
onions an' potatoes baked under it, an' a thick gra--"
"If you don't hold your jaw about things like that," Rayburn struck in,
"I'll murder you!"--and there was such fierceness in his voice, and he
truly was such a savage fellow when his anger was up, that Young was
half frightened by his outburst, and so was silent. I must say that I
wish that he had altogether held his tongue; for, somehow, the smell of
mutton and onions and potatoes, all cooking together, was so strong in
my nostrils, and this smell so set to yearning my very hollow inside,
that it was a long while before I could sleep at all; and when I did
sleep, it was to be pursued by dreams of painful hungriness which were
but too surely founded in painful fact. Certainly, it was very
indiscreet in Young, to say the least of it, to make a remark of that
nature at that untoward time.
However, that was the last day that we suffered for want of food. I was
awakened in the very early morning by the sound of a rifle-shot, and
sprang to my feet, brandishing my revolver, with a confused belief in
my sleepy mind that we were attacked by Indians again; and, truly, my
first feeling was one of pleasure at the thought of meeting, even in
deadly combat, with men who were alive.
"It's all right, Professor," Rayburn said. "We're not fighting anybody.
But I've killed a mountain sheep, and if we only can get him we'll have
a solid breakfast, even if we have to eat him raw. He was over on that
point of rock, and he's tumbled down clear into the valley, and the
sooner we get down there and hunt for him the better."
In the bright light of the early morning we could see below us a glad
little valley, in which trees and grass grew, and in the centre of which
was a tiny lake. But what gave as most joy was seeing birds flying over
the face of the water, and half a dozen mountain sheep scampering away
at the sound of Rayburn's shot. Truly, the sight of these live creatures
was the most cheery that ever came to my eyes; and as I beheld them, and
realized that at last we had emerged from the dreary, death-stricken
region in which as it seemed to me we had spent years, a great wave of
happiness rolled in upon and filled my heart. As it was with me, so was
it with the others: who gave sighs of gladness as thus they found
themselves no longer wanderers among the chill shades of ancient death,
but once more moving in the warm living world.
The path, cut out along the mountain-side, went downward by a sharper
grade than that by which we had ascended; and we descended it joyfully
at a swinging trot, with a new life in us that made us break out into
lively talk and laughter that set the echoes to ringing. And presently,
in a very jerky fashion because of his rapid motion, Pablo piped away on
his mouth-organ with "Yankee Doodle"--and this was the first time that
he had had the heart to play upon his beloved "instrumentito" since our
passage of the lake beneath which lay the city of the dead.
In an hour we came fairly down into that bright and lovely valley, where
was the sweet sound of birds calling to each other, and the glad sight
of these live creatures flying through the air. As for the sheep that
Rayburn had killed, he was knocked pretty well into a jelly by his
half-mile or so of tumble down the mountain-side. But we were not
disposed to be over-fastidious, and we quickly had his ribs roasting
over a brisk fire: that yet was not so brisk as was our hunger, for we
began to eat before the meat was much more than warmed through. When our
ravening appetite was appeased a little, Young got out the coffee-pot
and set to making coffee. And then, with meat well cooked and coffee in
abundance, we made such a meal as can be made only by half-starved men
who suddenly have come forth from the dark shadows of threatening death
into the glad sunshine of safety. Of what further perils might be in
store for us we neither cared nor thought. Our one strong feeling was
the purely animal joy bred of deliverance from gloom and danger, and the
packing of our bellies with hearty food.
When, at last, our huge meal was ended, we settled back upon our
blankets, and fell to smoking. Presently Rayburn gave a prodigious yawn
and laid aside his pipe. "I think I'll take a nap," he said. I saw that
Young already was nodding and that Pablo had sunk down into slumber;
while El Sabio, who had come even closer to starving than we had come,
most thankfully rummaged among the rich grass. My eyes were heavy, and I
stretched myself out on my blankets, with the warm sunshine comforting
my stiffened body, and presently sunk softly into delicious sleep.
I partly woke a few minutes later, as Fray Antonio rose, thinking that
we all were lost in slumber, and walked a little apart from us. He alone
had made a meal in reasonable moderation, and I saw now that he had gone
aside to pray. For a moment the thought stirred in me that I would join
him in what I knew was his thanksgiving for our deliverance; but sleep
had too strong a hold upon me, and my body slowly fell hack upon the
blankets and my eyes slowly closed, carrying into my slumber the sight
on which they last had rested: the monk kneeling upon the grass beside a
great gray rock, with clasped hands and face turned upward, pouring his
soul out in grateful prayer.
It was well on in the afternoon when we all woke again; and Young's
first remark was that it must be about supper-time. Rayburn fell in with
this notion promptly, and so did I myself--rather to my astonishment,
for it seemed unreasonable that after such a stuffing I should desire to
eat so soon again. But we did make a supper almost as hearty as our
breakfast had been, and in a little while wrapped ourselves in our
blankets, with our feet towards the heaped-up fire, and went off once
more to sleep, and slept through until sunrise of the following day. In
truth, the mental strain, bred of our gloomy surroundings and of the
dread of starvation that had possessed us, had taxed our physical
strength more severely than our mountain climbing and our lack of
nourishment. The great amount of strong food that we ate, and our long
slumber, showed nature's demand upon us that our waste of tissue should
be made good.
When we woke again on the second morning, we all were fresh and strong
and eager to press onward. There was little left of the sheep to carry
with us; but Rayburn shot half a dozen birds, some species of duck, as
we skirted the lake in our passage across the valley, so there was no
fear that we should lack for food. At its western end the valley
narrowed into a cañon. There was no choice of paths, for this was the
sole outlet, and we were assured that we were on the right path by
finding the King's symbol and the pointing arrow carved upon the rook.
The cañon descended very rapidly, and by noon we were so far below the
level of the Mexican plateau that the air had a tropical warmth in it;
and so warm was the night--for all the afternoon we continued to
descend--that we had no need for blankets when we settled ourselves for
sleep.
Rayburn was of the opinion that we were close upon the Tierra Caliente,
the hot lands of the coast; and when we resumed our march in the morning
he went on in advance of the rest of us, that he might maintain a
cautious outlook. If he were right in his conjecture as to our
whereabouts, we might at any moment come upon hostile Indians. It was
towards noon that he came softly back to us and bade us lay down our
packs and advance silently with him, carrying only our arms. "There's
something queer ahead; and I thought that I heard voices," he explained.
"But there must be no shooting unless we are shot at. Some of these
Indians are friendly, and we don't want to start a row with them if they
are willing not to row with us."
The cañon was very narrow at this point, and high above us its walls
drew so closely together that the shadows about us were deep. As we
rounded a bend in it, the rock closed above our heads in a great arch,
so that we were in a sort of natural tunnel; at the far end of which was
a bright spot showing that a wide and sunny open space was beyond. But
over this opening were bars which cut sharply against the light, as
though a gigantic spider had spun there a massive web; and as we drew
nearer to this curious barrier we saw beyond it a broad and glorious
valley, rich with all manner of luxuriant tropical growth and flooded
everywhere with the warm light of the sun.
We approached the strange barrier cautiously, and our wonder at it was
increased as we found that it was made of the bright metal of which we
had found so many specimens; and still more we wondered as we found that
the bars were fastened on the side from which we approached, so that we
could remove them easily, while from the side of the valley they
presented an impassable barrier. In strong excitement we drew out the
metal pins which dropped into slots cut in the rock and so held the bars
fast, and in a few minutes we had cleared the way for our advance. Just
as we were making ready to pass through the opening we heard the sound
of voices; and as we quickly drew back into the shadows two men sprang
up suddenly before us, and cried in wonder as they saw that the lower
bars across the opening were gone. Yet the expression upon their faces
was not that of anger; rather did they seem to be stirred by a strong
feeling of joy with which was also awe. Both men were accoutred in the
fashion which the pictured records show was usual with the Aztec
warriors, and one of them--as was indicated by his head-dress and by the
metal corselet that he wore--was a chief; and they challenged us
sharply, yet with gladness in their tones, in the Aztec tongue.
So sudden and so ringing was this challenge, and so startling was the
uprising of the men before us, that as we sprang back into the shadow we
instinctively stood ready with our arms. But Fray Antonio, not having
any intent to join in the fight, was cooler than the rest of us, and
instantly perceived that fighting was not necessary. Therefore he it was
who first spoke to these strangers; and his first word to them was,
"Friends!"
Then the watchmen, for such they seemed to be, spoke eagerly together
for a moment, and pressed to the opening to look upon us; yet seeing us
but dimly because of the dark shadows which surrounded us. Pablo was
closest to them, and I marvelled to see how like them he was in look and
in air. Him they first caught sight of, and as they saw him they both
turned from the opening, and, as though calling to some one at a
distance, gave both together a great glad shout. Instantly, at some
little distance, the cry was repeated; and so again farther on and yet
farther, with ever more voices joining in it; so that it swelled and
strengthened into a great roar of rejoicing that seemed to sweep over
the whole of the valley before us, and to fill it everywhere with
tumultuous sounds of joy.
As though the duty that they were charged with had been thus
accomplished, the men turned again to us, and he of the higher rank,
speaking the Aztec language, yet with turns and changes in that tongue
which were strange to me, eagerly called to us:
"Come forth to us! Come forth to us!" he cried. "Now is the prophecy of
old fulfilled and the watch rewarded that our people have maintained
from generation to generation through twenty cycles here at the grated
way! Come forth to us, our brothers--who bring the promised message from
our lord and king!"
I turned to Fray Antonio as these words were spoken, and I saw in his
face that which made me confident in my own glad conviction that here at
last was the secret place for which so long, and through such perils, we
had sought. Here indeed had we found the hidden people of whom the dying
Cacique had spoken and of whom the monk's letter had told; the strong
contingent of the ancient Aztec tribe that ages since the wise King
Chaltzantzin had saved apart, that when their strength was needed they
might come forth to ward their weaker brethren against conquest by a
foreign foe. And the great happiness begotten of this glad discovery
filled all my body with a throbbing joy.
Yet as we went out through the opening that we had made between the
bars, and the watchers saw us fairly in the sunlight, they sprang back
as though in alarm. Rayburn met this demonstration promptly by making
the peace-sign--raising aloft the right arm--that is common to all North
American Indians; and after a moment of hesitation the chief answered to
this in kind. So there was peace between us as we advanced; but it
seemed to me that their regard of us now had in it more of wonder and
less of awe.
[Illustration: MAKING THE PEACE-SIGN]
XVII.
OF OUR COMING INTO THE VALLEY OF AZTLAN.
So unexpectedly had we come upon these strangers, and so marvellous was
the finding thus of the hidden tribe for which we had sought so long,
that I could not but dread, as we advanced towards the Aztec warriors,
lest I should wake suddenly and find that it all was a dream. And they,
also, as it seemed to me, looked upon us doubtingly, and with somewhat
of dread in their regard, as though uncertain whether we were beings
from another world, or men of flesh and blood like themselves.
Not until we were close upon them did further words--after that first
challenge and answer--pass between us; and then the elder of the two,
still making the peace-sign with his raised right hand, and speaking
with a trembling in his voice, as though deep emotion moved him, called
to us: "Have our brothers need of our strength? Bring ye the token that
summons us to their aid?"
I should have been glad just then for opportunity to consult with my
companions as to what answer I should make to these questions, for I
perceived that our position was a very critical one, and that even our
lives might depend upon the wisdom of my reply. For a moment I waited in
the hope that Fray Antonio would make answer; but as he remained silent,
there was nothing for it but that I should take the hazard upon myself.
Therefore, bringing forth the ancient piece of gold from the snake-skin
bag--for so I had carried it constantly, even as the Cacique had done
before me, and others before him, for more than three hundred years--I
held it towards the man who had spoken, and said, firmly: "Here is the
token of summons left behind him by Chaltzantzin; but we come not to
call you forth to battle, but to bring tidings that the fate which that
wise king and prophet foresaw for his people, long since was fulfilled.
In the time appointed, the stranger foemen overcame and enslaved your
brethren, bringing to pass that which Chaltzantzin foretold; and the
message that then was sent to call you forth to their aid reached you
not, because even the wisdom of Chaltzantzin was powerless against the
will of the gods. Yet the gods desired not to destroy your brethren, but
to punish them; and their punishment now is at an end. Once more are
they free, and once more is their ruler a wise and valiant man of their
own race. Therefore, the news which we bring you is not sorrowful, but
glad."
While I was thus speaking, the ringing cries which at the first alarm
had sounded over all the valley grew louder and stronger; but as yet we
saw only the two men who at the first had confronted us--for we were in
a deep recess in the mountain, whence the ground dropped away in front,
so that the immediate foreground was hid from us, and we saw only some
distant meadows, and then a broad lake, and over this more meadows and a
sweep of heavy timber, and back of all great mountains rising against
the clear blue sky.
But as my speech ended, and before those to whom it was addressed at all
had digested the wonder of it, and so hesitated in their reply, a
half-dozen men and a woman or two came in sight in the narrow way before
us, panting after their rapid ascent of the acclivity; and the calls of
others pressing up the slope behind them sounded loudly, and in a very
little while a crowd of a hundred or more pressed about us, all gazing
at us and questioning us with a most eager surprise. For the most part
these seemed to be laborers from the near-by fields; for many of them
carried agricultural implements, and their bare legs and arms were
splashed with mud and were grimy of the soil. As for the look of them,
save that the flowing garments of cotton cloth which the women wore were
embroidered in a fanciful fashion, I could not have distinguished these
people from the tallest and strongest of the Indians dwelling in the hot
lands of the coast about Vera Cruz. The men, who wore only a cloth
twisted about their loins, were as magnificent fellows as I ever saw.
Every one of them was tall and straight, with broad shoulders and
narrow hips, and the muscles of their arms and legs stood out like
cords. From Pablo, who was an unusually tall and well-formed lad, they
differed only in the color of their skins--which were decidedly darker
than his, as was to be expected in the case of men dwelling in this
tropical region at the level of the sea.
Towards Pablo these people manifested a familiar curiosity quite unlike
their reverential manner towards the rest of us, who so obviously were
not of their own race. And Pablo was as much perplexed by their
questions as they were by his answers; for never was a conversation
carried on so hopelessly at cross-purposes. Our boy, being spoken to by
folk who obviously were as entirely Mexicans as he was himself, and in a
tongue that practically was that which he had been born to--for the
Indians dwelling in the Guadalajara suburb of Mexicalcingo, being the
direct descendants of a pure Aztec stock, speak the Nahua language very
correctly--could not at all realize that he was at last among the
ancient race for which we had searched so long. It was his belief that
we had come out, in accordance with Rayburn's forecast, into the coast
country, and that the people around him were the ordinary dwellers in
the hot lands. And the Aztecs, knowing him to be one of themselves, no
doubt believed that he knew of the purpose for which they had been left
to dwell apart, and so plied him with questions concerning their
brethren from whom through long ages they had been separated.
As their talk went on, getting the more involved with every question
and reply, a tendency towards ill-temper began to develop itself on each
side; for Pablo considered that these people, who professed to be
ignorant of so important a city as Guadalajara, were making game of him;
and they were not less disposed to believe that he either was answering
them falsely or that he was a fool. Fortunately, before any harm came of
these misunderstandings, an interruption brought a temporary end to
their talk.
There was a stir among the crowd, and then an opening was made in it,
through which came an elderly man wearing military trappings similar to,
but much handsomer than those worn by the two warriors whom we had first
encountered; and it was obvious, from the air of deference with which
these saluted him, that he was their superior officer. In spite of the
dignity of his demeanor it was evident that he was greatly excited by
our advent, and his voice quivered and broke a little as he asked us who
we were and whence we came. As I repeated what I had already told the
guard, and showed the gold token, the expression upon his face was that
of extreme perplexity. That the gold token gave us a strong claim upon
his respect, almost upon his reverence, was apparent in his manner as I
showed it to him; but the conditions under which it was presented
obviously rendered him very uncertain as to what action was proper for
him to take.
When I had finished my statement, and had returned the token to its
place in the snake-skin bag (for the wisdom of carefully retaining this
potent talisman in our possession was evident), the officer turned to
the two warriors, and they conversed for a while in low tones apart
from us. Of their talk I could catch only a few words, but several times
I heard repeated the name Itzacoatl, and frequent reference was made to
the Twenty Lords. I gathered, too, that the name of the officer was
Tizoc, and that the name of the elder of the two warriors, a swarthy
man, was Ixtlilton. In the mean time, out of respect to the officer, the
crowd had drawn away from us--being now swelled to very considerable
numbers--but those composing it gazed at us in wonder, and among them
was a steady murmur of low talk, like the buzzing of a hive of bees.
When his conference with the warriors was ended, Tizoc approached us,
and with him came a younger man, who carried a roll of paper in his
hand. The face of the officer still wore a troubled, doubting
expression, and these feelings were expressed also in the tones of his
voice as he spoke to us. "For the coming of the token from our lord
Chaltzantzin we who dwell in this Valley of Aztlan have waited through
many ages," he said; "but the promise was given that the token should
come to us from our brethren in the time of their need, and should be
brought by those of our own race. But you tell us that the time of need
long since is past, and ye who bring the token are of a race that is
strange to us; and even this one among you who seems to be of our
brethren speaks strangely of strange things. Had ye come in the way that
long past was promised, there would have been no room for questioning
your right of entry here nor your authority over us; and I, who am the
Warden of the Pass--being in right succession from him whom our lord
Chaltzantzin appointed to this high office--would have been the first to
do you reverence and honor. But in this strange case that has arisen I
hold it to be my duty to send news of your coming to the Priest Captain,
Itzacoatl, that he and his Council of the Twenty Lords may decide what
now is right to do. In this I mean no disrespect and no unkindness; and
while we await the Priest Captain's orders I shall have the pleasure to
offer you that rest and refreshment of which you stand in need."
To this firm but courteous speech I was in the act of replying in fit
terms of equal courtesy--for all that Tizoc had said was so reasonable
that no exception could be taken to it--when an outburst on Young's part
interrupted me.
"Hold on there, young fellow!" he cried. "I'll be shot if I'm goin' t'
stand bein' made a fool of that way! If you can't make a better likeness
of me than that, you'd better shut up shop an' go out of th' business."
I turned quickly, and saw Young standing beside Tizoc's attendant, and
looking half angrily and half laughingly at the sheet of paper that he
held in his hand. Fearful that some harm might come from Young's
maladroitness, I joined them quickly; and only a strong sense of the
gravity of our situation restrained me from laughing outright as I
behold the cause of his wrath. For the secretary, as I now perceived him
to be, had made sketches in color of each member of our party; and while
they all did violence to our vanity, that of Young--with a bald head
out of all proportion to the size of his body, and with most
aggressively red hair--was so outrageous a caricature that there really
was some justice in his resentment of it.
But this was not a time when resentment could be safely manifested, and
I hurriedly explained to Young that these pictures, no doubt, were to be
transmitted as a part of the report that Tizoc was about to make to the
King concerning us, and that he must find no fault with them.
"He's goin' t' send that thing t' th' King an' say it's me, is he? No,
he's not--not by a jugful! See here, Professor! here's a photograph that
I had taken last spring in Boston. I meant t' give it to a girl before I
came away, but she went back on me an' I didn't. It's not much of a
photograph, but it don't look like a squash trimmed with red clover. If
they want to send anything, let 'em send that." And before I could stop
him, Young had taken the photograph out of his pocket-book and had
handed it to the secretary, with the remark, "Just say t' him,
Professor, that he is t' give that t' th' King, an' tell him t' tell th'
King that Mr. Seth Young, of Boston, sends it with his compliments."
After all, no harm came of this absurd performance, but rather good; for
the secretary exhibited the photograph to Tizoc, and both of them, and
the two warriors also, were lost in wonder at its marvellous likeness to
the original, and evidently held us in increasingly great respect
because we were the possessors of such an extraordinary work of art.
Young was a good deal chagrined, however, because the picture of him
that the secretary had drawn was forwarded as a part of Tizoc's
despatches. He said that since he had set up a good likeness of himself,
it wasn't the square thing to send the King a bad one.
When the secretary, bearing the despatches, had departed, Tizoc
requested us to accompany him to the near-by guard-house, where we could
refresh ourselves by bathing, and where food and drink would be provided
for us. This order, for such it was, we obeyed gladly; for we were both
weary and hungry, and the prospect of what Young described as a good
wash and a square meal after it, was very pleasing to us. A detachment
of men from the guard-house, accoutred in the same handsome fashion as
Ixtlilton and his companion, had arrived while the secretary's
portrait-work was in progress; and I observed that all of these
guardsmen (excepting only Ixtlilton, whose skin was dark,) were much
lighter in color and more gracious in bearing than the men in the crowd
around us. So marked, indeed, was this difference that they seemed
scarcely to belong to the same race.
As we moved away through the opening that the crowd made for us, with a
platoon of guardsmen in advance, and another in our rear, Pablo touched
my arm and was about to speak to me; but before his mouth could open
there sounded suddenly from the hollow way in the mountain behind us a
mighty bray. "Ah, the little angel!" Pablo cried. "Hearken to him,
señor, calling to me." And so moved was Pablo by this evidence of El
Sabio's affection that only my firm grasp upon his arm restrained him
from attempting a dash through the guards to where the creature was
penned in by the metal bars.
Truly, there is no sound more terrifying to those who are strangers to
it than the braying of an ass; therefore, I was not at all surprised
that a very considerable part of the crowd incontinently took to its
heels; and I needed no better evidence of the bravery of the guardsmen
who composed our escort than the steadiness with which they faced about
in readiness to meet whatever danger might come forth from the gap in
the mountain in the wake of this great roaring. Yet what they saw there
was only the mild face of the Wise One extended towards us through the
opening in the bars.
To Tizoc, who was standing beside me, and who had not displayed even the
slightest tremor of alarm as the appalling noise had broken upon us, I
explained that the roaring creature was not harmful, but gentle and
biddable; and I begged that other of the bars might be removed, so that
it might come forth and join us. That he acceded instantly to my request
gave me a good opinion of his own faithfulness and honesty; for a man of
a suspicious and crafty nature assuredly would have believed that my
request was but a trap laid for his destruction; and thereupon the bars
were removed. And the truth of my words was made manifest, as El Sabio
came instantly to Pablo and received his caresses with every sign of
gentleness and affection. But even Tizoc did not disguise his wonder
upon beholding this strange beast, for the largest four-footed creature
in all that valley, as he told me, was a little animal of the deer
species, that was not much bigger than a hare. And when I bade Pablo
mount upon El Sabio's back, the look of surprise in Tizoc's face changed
suddenly to an expression of troubled doubt, in which was also alarm.
Under his breath I heard him mutter, "Can it be that the prophecy will
be fulfilled?" But whatever the cause of his inward disturbance was, he
spoke not of it, but turned once more forward, and gave the order to
march.
[Illustration: THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY]
The crowd, seeing that no harm was like to come to them, pressed forward
once more, and gazed with open-mouthed wonder--and also, as it seemed to
me, with awe--at the prodigious spectacle which Pablo, gravely riding
upon the ass's back, presented to them. And so, with the guards before
and behind us, we marched onward into the Valley of Aztlan.
XVIII.
THE STRIKING OF A MATCH.
As we emerged from the nook in the mountain-side the whole of the valley
lay open before us, and never was a more lovely spot beheld by the eyes
of man. A half-dozen leagues in front of us rose the great mountain wall
which shut in its farther side, and about as far away to the right and
to the left these walls swept around in vast curves and joined the
cliffs through which we had come by the hollow way that tunnelled
beneath them. A noble lake extended nearly the whole length of the
valley, and covered near a third of its width, and so seemed less like a
lake than like a calm and majestic river. From the water-side the land
rose in broad terraces, broken by belts of timber and by many groups of
smaller trees, which, because of the regularity of their growth, I took
to be fruit plantations. All the open country seemed to be one vast
garden, most carefully tended, and everywhere cut up by little canals,
whence water for irrigation was drawn. Scattered everywhere about the
valley were single houses embowered in trees, and from where we stood we
could see also four or five little towns, which also were plentifully
shaded. And on the lake many boats were passing, of which several were
of a considerable size, and were fitted with curiously shaped sails. And
all this exquisite tropical beauty of ample water and luxuriant foliage
shone richly beneath the bright splendor of a deep blue tropical sky.
Yet that which most strongly attracted our attention was not this
charming display of the manifold excellencies of God's handiwork, but
rather a wonderful manifestation of the handiwork of man. Over against
us, on the far side of the lake, slantingwise from where we stood, rose
a mass of buildings of such vastness and such majestic design that at
the first glance we took it to be one of the square-topped mountains
which are found not uncommonly in this portion of the world, and around
the bases of which are sloping heaps of the fragments of rock which
have broken away through countless ages from their weather-worn sides.
Yet in a moment we perceived that what we saw was a walled city built
upon a great promontory, that jutted out from the mountain-side; and in
the same breath Fray Antonio and I called out together, "It is the city
of Culhuacan!"
As we uttered this name Tizoc turned towards us quickly, and with a
startled, troubled look upon his face. "They are not of our race," he
said, as though speaking his thoughts aloud; "yet the sacred name, that
among us only a few know, is known to them!" and the troubled look upon
his face deepened as we went onward.
The way by which we descended was a narrow road carried zigzag down the
cliff--for the pass by which we had entered the valley was fully six
hundred feet above the level of the lake--and at short intervals along
its course this road was defended by walls of very solid masonry,
pierced with openings so narrow that only one man at a time could pass
through them. That the walls were for defence was shown by the piles of
metal bars on the inner side of each opening--the side towards the
mountain--so arranged that in a moment they could be slipped into
sockets in the stone-work, thus closing effectually the way.
Perceiving that we regarded with surprise this curious system of
fortification, Tizoc explained: "These are the barriers set up against
the Tlahuicos, who, heeding not the order given of old by our lord
Chaltzantzin, have striven many times to break forth from the
valley--for among these men there are many of perverse natures and evil
minds."
In _tlahuico_ I recognized a Nahua word that means "men turned towards
the earth," but what its meaning might be in the sense in which Tizoc
employed it I did not know. I should have asked for further
explanation--for the manner of this man was so frank and so friendly
that it invited a cordial familiarity--but as I was about to speak we
passed through the narrow opening in a wall of unusual height and
strength, and so came into a charming garden, in the midst of which
stood a large house well built of stone. For the making of this garden a
natural nook on the side of the mountain had been enlarged by filling in
along its outer edge against a great retaining-wall, built up from a
depth of a hundred feet from the slope below; and on the farther side of
the plateau thus created, where the path down into the valley went on
again, were heavy defensive walls. Near this exit, also, was a long low
building that I took to be a guard-house.
The crowd that had followed behind us from the height above went on
across the plateau, and out through the gate beside the guard-house--its
members casting many curious looks at us as they departed--and the
guardsmen who had formed our escort, at an order from Tizoc, went on to
their quarters. But Tizoc led us across the garden to the large house
that stood in the midst of it, and there, with a formal courtesy, bade
us enter. This was his home, he said, and we were his welcome guests.
The house was so like the houses ordinarily found in Mexico that we had
no feeling of strangeness in entering it. It was built of stone neatly
laid in cement; was but a single story in height, and enclosed a large
central court, in the midst of which a fountain sparkled, surrounded by
small trees and shrubs and beds of flowers. All of the rooms opened upon
this central court, and in the outer wall the only opening was the
narrow way by which we had entered--for the prompt closing of which
there lay in readiness a pile of metal bars. The flat roof, also of
stone, was reached by a stone stair-way from the court, and had about it
a heavy stone parapet that was pierced with narrow slits through which
javelins and arrows could be discharged. But these arrangements for
defence did not by any means produce a gloomy effect, as they would had
we encountered them in a country-house in our own part of the world--for
similar defence arrangements are found in every hacienda in Mexico at
the present day, and even I, though my stay in the country had been so
short, already had become accustomed to them.
A buzzing chatter of talk, in which women's voices predominated, ceased
suddenly as we entered the court; and from the swaying and twitching of
the curtains hanging in the front of the openings leading into several
of the rooms, we inferred that we were undergoing a keen inspection. In
response to a call from Tizoc, some men-servants came out from one of
the rooms and received his order to prepare food for us; and he then led
us to a large room in a corner of the court that was arranged very
delightfully as a bath. Here was a great stone tank, twenty feet or so
square, and with a slanting bottom, so that the depth of it ranged from
two feet to nearly five, in which was fresh running water; and over the
portion of the room that the tank occupied there was no roof but the
bright blue sky. On the stone floor were beautifully woven mats, and
towels of cotton cloth hung upon pegs driven into the walls, and in
earthen bowls were fresh pieces of a saponaceous root that I have seen
the like of in use among the Indians of New Mexico. It seemed to strike
Tizoc as odd that we preferred to make use of the bath successively
rather than all together; but he was too polite a man to interpose any
objections to our eccentricities. Pablo only--coming last of all of
us--had a companion in his bathing in the person of El Sabio; and the
sleekness of that excellent animal, when Pablo had brushed carefully his
long coat when his bath was ended, was a wonder to behold.
Being thus refreshed, we heartily welcomed the excellent meal that was
served to us in the cool shade of the veranda by which the court-yard
was surrounded. Our eating was somewhat in the Roman fashion, for the
table was a broad slab of stone, raised but a little from the ground,
and around it we reclined upon mats, with cushions woven of rushes to
lean upon. The food was excellent--a small animal of the deer species,
but no larger than a hare, roasted whole; birds very like quails,
delicately broiled; little cakes made of maize, which were rather like
the hoe-cakes of our Southern negroes than _tortillas_; some sort of
sweet marmalade; and a great abundance of oranges, mangoes, bananas, and
other fruits common to the hot lands of Mexico; all of which fruits
were much more delicate in flavor than Mexican fruits usually are; the
result, as we found later, of the great care bestowed upon their
culture. Only water was served with the meal, but at the end of it a
small jar of some sort of potent liquor was brought, very cool, and with
an excellent spicy taste, that Tizoc warned us must be taken but
sparingly; and truly he was right, as I found from the warm and mellow
feeling of benevolent friendliness that but half a cup of it infused
into me. Tizoc himself did not follow very rigidly the advice that he
had given us; and to this fact, probably, was due the exceeding
frankness with which he subsequently spoke with us concerning grave
matters, of which he surely would have been reticent had he been in a
less genial mood.
"Just ask th' Colonel if he minds my smokin' a pipe, won't you,
Professor?" Young said, when our meal was ended; and as I myself wanted
to smoke, and as I was sure that Rayburn did also, I made the request
general. Tizoc, to my surprise--for I believed smoking to be common to
all the indigenous races--evidently did not at all understand my
meaning; but perceiving that I asked to have some favor granted, he
courteously gave the permission that I desired. As we filled our pipes
he watched us curiously; but when we drew out our matches and struck
fire by what seemed to him but the turn of our hands, he started to his
feet and manifested a strange excitement, in which there seemed to be
less of alarm than of awe. His voice shook, and his whole person
trembled, as he asked, "Are ye the children of Chac-Mool, the God of
Fire, and therefore the chosen servants of Huitzilopochtli the
Terrible, that ye thus can do what among us is done only by our Priest
Captain Itzacoatl?"
[Illustration: THE STRIKING OF A MATCH]
Both Fray Antonio and I heard with delight this utterance, that in a
moment settled the long-disputed question as to whether or not Chac-Mool
was an idol, and settled it, also, in favor of the ingenious hypothesis
presented by the learned Señor Chavero. The moment was not a favorable
one, however, for pursuing the matter in its archæological bearings, for
all of our tact and skill just then were required to restore Tizoc to
calmness. As well as this was possible in the language common to us--we
suddenly realized how difficult it was to express in the Nahua tongue
more than rudimentary concepts of the ideas that we sought to convey--we
explained to him how matches were made; and illustrated our words by
showing him how fire was induced by friction, even as the rubbing of two
pieces of wood together produced fire also. This explanation was less
exact than ingenious; but it was one that he could understand, and it
had the effect of allaying his alarm sufficiently to permit him to
resume his seat, when he at once drank off a whole bowlful of the
strong, spicy liquor at a draught. Added to what he already had inside
of him, this draught set his tongue to wagging in the free way that I
have already referred to, and he grew bold enough to take a match in his
hand. But even in his cups he manifested a certain reverence in his
handling of it; and presently, from a little bag that was hung about his
neck, he produced the burnt remnant of a match that he compared with it
critically. "They are the same?" he asked, as he extended the whole
match and the fragment together towards us that we might examine them.
"They are the same," Fray Antonio answered. "Whence comes the one that
you guard so carefully?"
"From the Priest Captain--from Itzacoatl. With such things does he
miraculously set burning the fire of sacrifice; but he does not speak of
them lightly, as you do; he tells us that they are the handiwork of the
Fire God, Chac-Mool; and when the fire of sacrifice is kindled he gives
what remains of them as high rewards to those who have served well the
State by brave acts or honorable deeds. This which I cherish was my
reward for crushing a revolt among the Tlahuicos."
Fray Antonio and I exchanged curious glances, for the conviction was
forced upon us both that the Priest Captain of whom Tizoc spoke must
either have invented friction matches, or that he must have some secret
channel of communication with the outside world. In either case it was
evident that he must be a man of unusual shrewdness; and it also was
evident that his feeling towards us--since we also could perform a
miracle that he obviously made use of as a means of manifesting his
divine right to rule--must be that of strong hostility.
To Rayburn and Young, who had observed wonderingly Tizoc's extraordinary
conduct, I rapidly translated what he had said; and explained how
serious our situation appeared in the light of this new development.
"Well, it certainly _is_ cold weather for this Priest Captain fellow,"
Young commented, "if we've got hold of his boss miracle; and I guess
you're about right, Professor--he'll want t' take it out of our hides.
Just poke up th' Colonel t' telling all he knows about this old dodger.
Th' Colonel's got his tongue pretty well greased just now with his own
prime old Bourbon--pass me that jar, Rayburn, I don't mind if I have
another whack at it myself--and we may get something out of him that
will be useful. Try it on, Professor, any way. Here's luck, gentlemen."
That Young's tongue also was a little greased, as he put it, by this
very agreeable beverage was quite evident; but his wits were sharpened
rather than dulled by the drink, and his present suggestion evidently
was a very good one. As for Tizoc, his disposition towards us obviously
was most soft and friendly; and as his mind slowly absorbed the fact
that, somehow or another, the Priest Captain had made a fool of him with
a miracle that was not really a miracle at all, his choler rose in a
manner most favorable to our purposes. Yet this very feeling of
resentful anger--showing a growing irreverence of one to whom all the
traditions of his people gave reverence second only to that due to the
gods themselves--was startling evidence of the menace that our presence
was to the theocratic ruler's temporal and spiritual power. Therefore it
was with a keen curiosity that we listened--and Tizoc needed, to induce
him to talk freely, but little of the poking-up that Young had
suggested--to what was told us concerning the strange people among whom
we had come by ways so perilous, and of their chieftain, the Priest
Captain Itzacoatl--with whom, as no spirit of prophecy was needed to
tell us, we were destined soon to engage in a conflict that must be
fought out to the very death.
XIX.
THE SEEDS OF REVOLT.
For the sake of brevity I shall summarize here the statement that Tizoc
made to us, and for the sake of clearness I shall add to it some facts
of minor importance which came to our knowledge later--thus at once
exhibiting the whole of the troublous condition of affairs that stirred
dangerously the people dwelling in the Valley of Aztlan at the time of
our coming among them.
At this period the political situation, as I may term it, was
exceedingly critical. Three powerful factions were in existence; and
peace was preserved only by the generally diffused belief that open
revolt, on the part of either one, would be crushed instantly by a
temporary coalition of the other two. The beginning of this unpleasantly
volcanic condition of affairs dated back six cycles--that is to say, a
little more than three hundred years--and was the direct result of a
violation of the law set forth by the wise King Chaltzantzin when the
colony was founded, by which it was ordained that all among the
Aztlanecas who, on coming to maturity, were weaklings or cripples,
should be put to death.
Being once suggested, the repeal or the modification of this law found
many advocates. Naturally, the change was urged most strongly by all
those whose sons and daughters were sickly or malformed, and so were
doomed to die in the very blossom of their years. It was urged by the
nobles because the more astute among them perceived the possibility of
so manipulating it that it would result in the creation of a
distinctively servile class; and the priests urged it because they also
perceived a way by which it might be made to provide more victims for
sacrifice to the gods. And so it came to pass, through the influence of
these diverse elements operating together towards a common end, that the
law which Chaltzantzin had promulgated was set aside, and a law was made
that embodied the provisions demanded by the nobles and the priests,
whereby should be created a new social class; which class, because of
the infirmities of those composing it, received the name of
Tlahuicos--"men turned towards the earth." Thereafter, the sickly and
the crippled were not slain upon reaching maturity, but then passed out
from the class into which they were born and became servitors. And when
the first cycle was ended after the making of this new law, and
thenceforward every year, one in every ten among the Tlahuicos was taken
by lot to be sacrificed to the gods--for the priests craftily had gained
the barbarous concession that they demanded by placing the first
fulfilment of it at a time so far in the future that all concerned in
the granting of it would be dead in the course of nature before it
became operative. Yet to the end that those of noble birth might be
saved from the ignominy of servitude, it was provided that children
which by reason of natural infirmity were doomed to become slaves, might
be saved from that fate upon coming to maturity by being then
surrendered by their parents to the priests for sacrifice. Other grace
there was none. Excepting between death and slavery, there was no choice
for the weak or the malformed.
As time passed on, the Tlahuicos, marrying among themselves, had greatly
increased in numbers; and so far from remaining a weakling race, the had
become, by reason of their frugal mode of living and of the wholesome,
hearty labor in which they constantly were engaged, exceptionally hale
and strong; the weak and crippled among them being mainly those who each
year, because of such infirmities, were added to their number from the
higher ranks of the community. And thus was collected together material
as dangerous as it was inflammable; for the fresh additions to the
Tlahuicos kept constantly alive in the whole body a spirit of moody
discontent, that time and again, at the season when the lots were cast
by which one in every ten was doomed to death, was fanned into armed
mutiny. These revolts ever had as their single object escape from the
valley; which fact made evident enough the need for the elaborate system
of defensive works by which the outlet of the valley was barred.
From the Tlahuicos were drawn the house-servants of the rich; and by
those of this wretched class who were stout of body all the heavy labor
of the community was carried on--the tilling of the fields, the
quarrying of stone, the building of houses and bridges and roads, the
felling of timber, the carriage of all burdens, and the working of the
great gold-mine, concerning which I shall hereafter have more to tell.
And all of these people were held in absolute bondage, either as the
serfs of individual owners or as the property of the State; for each
year the new accessions to the class were sold publicly at an auction to
whoever would bid the most for them; and those which none would buy,
being too infirm to be useful as laborers, the State laid claim to--but
only that they might be kept alive until such time as they should be
needed by the priests for sacrifice.
Yet out of this custom of sale, that on the face of it was harsh and
barbarous, some slight mitigation of the cruelty of the system had come;
for the practice had grown up of permitting parents to buy back their
own children--nominally thereafter holding them as slaves--and so to
save them at a single stroke from both death and servitude. One strong
cause of the hatred of the Priest Captain Itzacoatl, Tizoc said (and we
wondered then at the trembling in his voice, and at the evidently deep
emotion that overcame him as he spoke), was that he had but lately
forbidden the continuance of this practice, by which only the letter of
the law was obeyed.
Until the promulgation by the Priest Captain of this decree, the
priesthood, the military aristocracy, and the mass of the army had
constituted, politically, one single class. The civil government was
vested in a body styled the Council of the Twenty Lords, the members of
which originally had been chosen by Chaltzantzin, and from him had
received authority, in perpetuity, to fill the vacancies which death
would cause among them by selecting the wisest of each new generation to
be Councillors. While the composition of this body was distinctively
aristocratic--for its members were either military nobles or priests of
a high grade--there was in it also an element of democracy; for both the
priesthood and the army were recruited from all classes of society
(saving only the servile class), and among the Twenty Lords there were
always men who had risen from obscurity to distinction solely by their
own merit. Over this body the Priest Captain presided; yet was his will
superior to that of the Council, for he was the visible representative
of the gods, and so centred in his own person their high authority and
dreadful power.
Until the time of Itzacoatl, each successive priest captain, in the long
line that here had ruled, had exercised so discreetly his theocratic
rights, and in all ways had shown such wisdom in his government, that no
conflict had arisen between the temporal and the spiritual powers. And
thus wisely had Itzacoatl governed in the early years of his reign. But
as age stole upon him--and he now was a very old man--his rule had grown
more and more tyrannical. He had drawn about him certain priests for
intimate advisers, and these constantly led him to run counter to the
will of the Twenty Lords, not only in matters about which divergent
opinions reasonably might be held, but in matters wherein the will of
the whole people was at one with the advice that the Council gave. Thus,
gradually, two parties were built up within the State: that of the
priests, which strongly seconded the disposition that Itzacoatl
manifested to make the spiritual power absolutely supreme, and that of
the nobles and people of the higher class, which sought to maintain the
Council's ancient rights in matters temporal. In regard to these two
factions, the affiliations of the army were so nicely balanced that
neither side ventured to resort to open violence--for each dreaded that
the other would turn the scale against it by invoking the aid of the
servile class. Thus it was that the despised Tlahuicos actually held the
balance of power. Yet of this fact, Tizoc declared--but I noticed that
just here there was a curious hesitancy about his speech, as though he
knew more than he was willing to disclose--the Tlahuicos were but dimly
conscious; while they did know certainly that in the present state of
affairs any attempt on their part to rise in mutiny would be met, as it
had been met many times in the past, by all the forces of both factions
of their superiors overwhelmingly united against them.
But the bond that was stronger than all others in holding together this
community, in which, beneath the surface, were working such potent
elements of disintegration, was the loyal resolve pervading it to
execute the mission to which its members were destined when they were
set apart from the remainder of their race a thousand years before.
Excepting only among the Tlahuicos--who, in the nature of things, could
have no share in it--there had ever been among all classes a fervent
longing for the summons that should call them forth to aid their
brethren in the battling with a foreign foe that Chaltzantzin had
prophesied. And by reason of this loyalty to a lofty purpose the open
rupture that assuredly otherwise would have come had been thus far
restrained. Honor forbade, Tizoc declared, that by falling to warring
among themselves they should put in jeopardy their power to respond
instantly to the summons that might at any instant come.
It was therefore with a profound and solemn interest--for the grave
import of it was plain to him--that Tizoc, having ended his own
statement, questioned us as to the full meaning of the words which we
had spoken when first we entered the valley: that the prophecy of
Chaltzantzin long since had been fulfilled, and that now, having in its
appointed time miscarried, the summons would never come.
With awe, and in sorrowful silence, he listened as Fray Antonio and I
told him how exactly the prophecy had been verified by the coming of the
Spaniards, and by their conquest and enslavement of the Mexicans; yet
was he cheered again as our narrative continued, and he learned of the
brave fight for freedom that his brethren had made, and of the happy
success that had crowned it in the end. Of the period between the
achievement of independence and recent years we said but little--it is
not a period of which those whose feeling towards the Mexicans is
friendly have much desire to talk--contenting ourselves with
emphasizing the fact that the race so long oppressed, having risen
successfully against its oppressors, remained independent under a ruler
of its own blood.
To that part of our narrative in which we told how we had gained
knowledge of the hidden city of Colhuacan, and possession of the token
of summons, Tizoc gave but little heed. It was evident that his mind was
engrossed with consideration of the more important matters of which we
had told him, and of the direct bearing that they had upon the troubled
condition of affairs in which his own people were involved. Seeing
which, we left him to his own thoughts while we talked of these same
matters among ourselves.
Rayburn, in his quick, clear-headed way, grasped the situation promptly
and accurately. "About the size of it is," he said, "that we've knocked
the false work right from under everything that these folks have been
building for the whole thousand years that they have been living here;
and what they've built isn't strong enough to stand alone. As Young
says, it's a cold day for the Priest Captain because we have got hold of
his boss miracle; but it's still colder weather for him because the news
that we have brought makes it all right for the crowd that wants to
fight him to go right ahead and do it; and I guess they will do it, too,
as soon as they get the fact fairly into their heads that there no
longer is a chance of their being called off in the middle of their row.
Unless I am very much mistaken, we shall see some pretty lively times in
this valley inside of the next thirty days."
"And unless _I'm_ mistaken," Young struck in, "th' Colonel here will be
about th' first man t' take off his coat--that is, th' thing that I
suppose he thinks is a coat--an' sail in. I don't know just what he's
got against th' Priest Captain, except that he seems t' be a sort of
pill on gen'ral principles, but I'm sure that he's down on him from th'
word go. From what th' Colonel says, I judge that his crowd has a pretty
good chance of comin' out on top--for th' other crowd seems t' be made
up for th' most part of parsons; an' parsons, as a rule, haven't much
fight in 'em. What we'd better do it t' tie t' th' Colonel, an' when
we've helped him an' his friends t' wallop th' other fellows they'll be
so much obliged to us that they'll let us bag all th' treasure we want
an' clear out. An' that reminds me, Professor--we haven't heard anything
about any treasure so far. Just ask th' Colonel if there really is one.
If there isn't, I vote for pullin' out before th' row begins. It's as
true of a fight as it is of a railroad--that runnin' it just for th'
operatin' expenses don't pay."
Tizoc answered my question on this head somewhat absently, for he
evidently was debating within himself some very serious matter; but his
answer was of a sort that Young found entirely satisfactory. In the
heart of the city, he said, was the Treasure-house that Chaltzantzin had
builded there; and within it the treasure remained that Chaltzantzin had
stored away. What it consisted of, nor the value of it, he could not
tell. The Treasure-house was also the Great Temple; and of the treasure
only the Priest Captain had accurate knowledge. In the Treasure-house,
Tizoc added, was stored the tribute that the people paid annually, and
the metal that was taken from the great mine. This metal was the most
precious of all their possessions, he said, for from it their arms were
made, and also their tools for tilling the earth, and for working wood
and stone. It had not always been of such value, for it naturally was
too soft to serve these useful purposes; but at a remote period, until
which time their implements had been made of stone, a wise man among
them had discovered a way by which it could be hardened, and from that
time onward the people dwelling in the valley had prospered greatly,
because they thus were enabled to practise all manner of useful arts.
"And what is this metal like?" I asked, with much interest, for my
archæological instinct instantly was aroused by hearing summed in these
few words a matter of such momentous importance as the transition of a
people to the age of metal from the age of stone.
"It is like this," Tizoc answered, simply, disengaging as he spoke a
heavy bracelet from his arm, "only this remains in its natural state of
softness. To be of great value it first must be made hard."
I had no doubt in my own mind as to what this metal was, but I knew that
Rayburn, who was an excellent metallurgist, could pronounce upon it
authoritatively.
"Is this gold?" I asked, handing him the bracelet.
"Certainly it is," he answered, in a moment--"and it seems to be
entirely without alloy."
"Then your guess about the bright, hard metal that has been such a
puzzle to us," I continued, "was the right one; it is hardened gold:"
and I repeated to him what Tizoc had told me.
Rayburn was deeply interested. "Scientifically, this is a big thing,
Professor," he said. "These fellows can give points to our
metallurgists. But for our purposes, of course, what they've caught on
to here has no practical value. Gold has got to come down a good deal,
or phosphor-bronze has got to go up a good deal, before it will pay us
to turn gold dollars into axle-bearings and cogs and pinions. But it's
mighty interesting, all the same. Fusing with silicium would give a
gold-silicide that might fill the bill for hardness; but I can't even
make a guess as to how they do the tempering. Ask the Colonel what the
whole process is, Professor. It will make a capital paper to read before
the Institute of Mining Engineers at their next meeting."
As I turned to Tizoc to ask this question, I perceived that his regard
was fixed upon something on the other side of the court-yard, and in his
look most tender love was blended with a deep melancholy. Following the
direction of his gaze, I saw that its object was a beautiful boy, a lad
of twelve or fourteen years old, who was half hidden behind some
flowering shrubs, and from this cover was peering at us curiously.
"It is my Maza--my little son," Tizoc said, as he turned and saw the
direction in which I looked. And then he called to the boy to come to
him. For a moment Maza hesitated, but when the call was repeated he came
out from behind the screen of flowers and so towards us across the
court-yard; and as he advanced I perceived that he was lame. In his face
was the look of wistfulness which cripples so often have, and there was
a rare sweetness and intelligence in the expression of his large brown
eyes. In a moment I understood why it was that Tizoc resented so
bitterly the abrogation by the Priest Captain of the custom that had
permitted parents to buy back their crippled children, and so to save
them from slavery; and a selfish feeling of gladness came into my heart
as this light dawned upon me--for I knew that when we faced the danger
that threatened us (a most real danger, for our coming into the valley
was nothing less than a deadly blow at Itzacoatl's supremacy) we surely
would find in Tizoc an ally and a friend.
XX.
THE PRIEST CAPTAIN'S SUMMONS.
There was so much meaning in my look as I turned towards Tizoc that I
had no need to speak; he knew that I had comprehended the situation, and
so answered my look in words.
"Do you wonder that I rejoice over your coming, and over the news which
you bring? The will of the gods no longer is that we shall do the work
for which our lord Chaltzantzin destined us; therefore are we free to
set aside the custom that he decreed by which our weak ones are
condemned to death, and with it the custom, yet more cruel, of our own
devising, by which they are saved from death only that they may be made
slaves. To my boy neither slavery nor death shall come. Through you the
gods have spoken, and he is saved. And now also is fulfilled the
prophecy that of ancient times was spoken, that with the coming into the
Valley of Aztlan of a four-footed beast, bearing upon its back a man,
the power of the Priest Captain should end."
Much more, doubtless, Tizoc would have said to us, for an exalted
emotion stirred him; but at that moment there was the sound of hurrying
feet in the outer enclosure, and then Tizoc's secretary came through the
narrow entrance into the court-yard, followed closely by a detachment of
the guards. The secretary spoke hurriedly to his master, apart from us,
and from his excited manner in speaking, and from the anxious look upon
his master's face as he listened, we inferred that some very stirring
matter was involved in the communication that he brought.
For a few moments Tizoc stood in silence, his head bowed, as though
engaged in earnest thought. Then he turned to us and spoke. "The Priest
Captain has sent his order that you shall be brought before him," he
said, "and that you must go hence without delay." And then he added,
taking me aside and speaking in a low voice: "There is great commotion
already in the city, for the soldiers have noised abroad the news which
you bring. The Council of the Twenty Lords has been called together, and
I am told that a messenger from the Council is on his way hither. That
my order to take you to the city in such haste, and directly to the
Priest Captain, is so stringent, I cannot but think is caused by his
desire to get you hence before the messenger from the Council shall
arrive. His purpose towards you surely is an evil one; but fear not--you
bring a message of freedom and deliverance that has only to be published
to raise around you a host of friends. And now we must go."
In a few moments we had quitted Tizoc's house, passed out through the
fortified gate-way in the heavy wall by which the little plateau on the
mountain side was defended; and so, by a broad road that descended
sharply, went downward towards the border of the lake. Our order of
march was the same as that adopted in bringing us from the Barred Pass:
before us and behind us were detachments of the guards, and Tizoc walked
with us. In accordance with his desire, that he expressed to me in a
cautious whisper, Pablo rode upon El Sabio's back. There was no need for
him to explain his motive in making this suggestion. It was his purpose,
evidently, to exhibit the fulfilment of the prophecy as conspicuously as
possible, and so to prepare the ground for the sowing of the seeds of
revolt.
I had an opportunity now to tell Rayburn and Young of what Tizoc had
been speaking at the moment when the summons from the Priest Captain
came; and also of the strong personal reason that he had for protecting
us, even to the extent of forwarding the outbreak of revolution, in his
desire to save from death or slavery the son whom he so well loved.
"I'm not at all surprised to hear that what we've told 'em is going to
start a revolution," Rayburn said. "That's just the way I sized the
matter up, you know, as soon as I got down to the first facts. If they'd
had a decent sort of a fellow at the head of things, they might have
worked along so as to take a fresh start without fighting over it. But
this Priest Captain chap isn't that kind. He goes in for Boss management
and machine politics, I should judge from what the Colonel says, as
straight as if he was a New York alderman or the chairman of a State
campaign committee in Ohio. No doubt he's got a pretty big crowd back of
him; but that kind of a crowd don't amount to much in a fight, when
there's any sort of a show for the other side to win. It sort of gets
out of the way, and stands around with water on both shoulders, and
then, when one side begins to get pretty well on top--it don't matter
which--it says that that's the side it's been fighting with all along,
and begins to kick the fellows that are down. Where our chance comes in
is in having the respectable element, the solid men who pay taxes and
have an interest in decent government, to tie to. They may not pay taxes
here, but that's the kind I mean. And that kind, when it takes to
fighting, fights hard. Then there must be a lot of fathers with crippled
children, like the Colonel here, who are down on the Priest Captain the
worst kind, and will be only too glad of a chance to go for him; and
they can be counted on to stand in with us, and to fight harder than
anybody. I'll admit, Professor, that we're in a pretty tight place; but
it might be a good deal tighter, and I do honestly believe that we'll
get out of it."
"And so do I," said Young, "'specially now that I know that that burro
of Pablo's is part of a prophecy. I always did think that there was
style about El Sabio, any way, an' now I know what it comes from. When I
was a boy, th' one thing that used t' keep me quiet in church was
hearin' our minister read that story about Balaam and _his_ burro; but I
never thought then that I'd actually ketch up with a live ass that was
in the prophesyin' line of business for itself--or had prophecies made
about it, which is pretty much the same thing. T' be sure, this prophecy
don't come down t' dots quite as much as I'd like it to; but I s'pose
that that's th' way with 'em always--eh, Professor? Th' prophets sort o'
leave things at loose ends on purpose; so's they can run 'wild' on a
clear track, without any bother about schedule time or connections."
"Well, our burro lays over Balaam's," Rayburn struck in. "In that case
it took the combined arguments of an ass and an angel to convince Balaam
that he was off about his location, and was running his lines all wrong;
but, unless we count in Pablo, El Sabio is playing a lone hand; and I'm
sure that the Colonel's not fooling us about this prophecy business,
either. It's rubbish, of course; but that don't matter, so long as the
people here swallow it for the genuine thing. Just look at that old
fellow there. He's tumbled to it, and he's regularly knocked out."
We were close to the shore of the lake by this time, and as Rayburn
spoke we were passing a small house, in front of which was gathered a
group of Indians. In the midst of the group was a very old man, who
with out-stretched arm was pointing towards Pablo and El Sabio, and who
at the same time was talking to his companions in grave and earnest
tones. There was a look of awe upon his age-worn face, and as we fairly
came abreast of him he dropped upon his knees and raised his arms above
his head, as though in supplication to some higher power. The action,
truly, was a most impressive one; and even more strongly than we were
affected by it did it affect those who were clustered around him. In a
moment all in the group had fallen upon their knees and had raised their
arms upward; and then a low moaning, that presently grew louder and more
thrilling, broke forth among them as they gave vent to the feeling of
awful dread that was in their hearts.
"That's business, that is," Young said, in tones of great satisfaction.
"Those fellows do believe in th' prophecy, for a fact; and if th' folks
once get it fairly into their heads that th' time has come for their
rascally Priest Captain t' have an upset, that's a good long start for
our side towards upsettin' him. It was just everlastin'ly level-headed
in th' Colonel t' make Pablo ride El Sabio, and so regularly cram th'
thing down these critters' throats. I don't know how much of th'
prophecy he believes himself, but he's workin' it for all it's worth,
any way. There don't seem t' be any flies worth speakin' of on th'
Colonel--eh, Professor? And I guess that anybody who wants t' get up
earlier 'n th' mornin' than he does 'll have to make a start overnight."
By this time the road that we followed had come down to the lake-level,
and presently we reached the end of it, which was a well-built pier that
extended out from the shelving shore into deep water. Here a boat was in
waiting for us--a barge of near forty feet in length, with twenty men to
row it, and carrying also a mast, stepped well forward, so rigged as to
spread a sail that was a compromise between a lug and a lateen. There
was some little talk between the officer in charge of the barge and
Tizoc, and then the latter motioned us to go on board. The barge-master
gave the order to the guard to follow us, as though the command of the
party now had devolved upon him; and it seemed to us, from the close
group that the guard made around us in the boat, and from the anxious
looks which the barge-master cast upon us, that very strict orders must
have been given concerning keeping us closely in ward. Under these
circumstances, it caused us some little wonder that we were permitted to
retain our arms, until the thought occurred to me that these people,
having no knowledge of such things, did not at all realize that our
rifles and revolvers were arms at all. To test which theory I drew one
of my pistols--not violently, but as though this were something that I
was doing for my own convenience--and so held it in my hands that the
muzzle was pointed directly at the heart of the soldier who sat beside
me; yet beyond the interest that its odd shape, and the strange metal
that it was made of aroused in him, it was evident that the man regarded
my action entirely without concern. I drew the attention of Rayburn and
Young to what I was doing, and to how evident it was that fire-arms
were unknown to this people; and in their ignorance we found much cause
for satisfaction.
[Illustration: CHECKING YOUNG'S OUTBREAK]
"If they don't know enough to corral our guns," Young said, "we've got a
pretty good-sized piece of dead-wood on 'em. Th' way things are goin',
we may have a rumpus a'most any time, I s'pose; and if it does come to a
rumpus, they'll be a badly struck lot when we open on 'em. Robinson
Crusoe cleaned out a whole outfit of Indians with just an old flint-lock
musket; and I should say that we'd simply paralyze this crowd when we
all get goin' at once with our revolvers an' Winchesters. Isn't that
your idea of it, Rayburn?"
But Rayburn did not answer, for while Young was speaking he had taken
out his field-glass and was examining the city, to within three or four
miles of which we now were come. "Well, that _is_ a walled city, and no
mistake!" he said, as he lowered the glass from his eyes. "Take a look,
Professor. These people may be easy to fool when it comes to prophecies,
but when it comes to engineering and architecture they're sound all the
way through. Just look at the straightness of that wall running up the
hill, and how exact the alignment is of the two parts above and below
that ledge of rocks. They had to get that alignment, you know, by taking
fore-sights and back-sights from the top of the ledge; and I must say
that for people who haven't got far enough along in civilization to wear
trousers, it's an uncommonly pretty piece of work."
As I looked through the glass I was less impressed by this technical
detail, involving the overcoming of engineering difficulties which I did
not very thoroughly understand, than I was by the majestic effect
produced by the city as a whole, in conjunction with the site on which
it was reared. At this point the lake came close up to the vastly high
cliffs by which the valley everywhere was girt in, and here jutted out
from the cliff a great promontory of rock, whereof the highest part was
fully two hundred feet above the lake-level. For the accommodation of
the houses which everywhere were built upon it, the sloping face of this
promontory had been cut into broad terraces, of which the facings were
massive walls of stone; and the whole was enclosed by a wall of great
height and enormous thickness that swept out in an immense semicircle
from the face of the cliff, and thus shut in the terraced promontory and
also a considerable area of level land at the base of it between the
lowest terrace and the margin of the lake.
On the highest terrace, crowning and dominating the whole, was a
majestic building that seemed to be half temple and half fort--a square
structure, resting solidly against the face of the cliff, and thence
projecting a long way outward to where its façade was flanked by two
low, heavy, square towers. Architecturally, this building, unlike any
other of which I had knowledge in Mexico, saving only the temple that we
had found upon the lonely mountain-top, was pervaded by a distinctly
Egyptian sentiment. Its walls sloped inward from their bases, and no
trivial nor fretful lines weakened the effect of their massive dignity;
for the whole of the decoration upon them was a broad panelling that was
gained by a combination of heavy pilasters and a heavy cornice; and with
the exception of a central entrance, the front was unbroken by openings
of any kind. Possessing these characteristics, the building had about it
an air of solemnity that bordered closely upon gloom; and the obvious
solidity of its construction was such that it seemed destined to last on
through all coming ages in defiance of the assaults of time. There was
no need for me to question Tizoc; for I knew that what I beheld before
me, crowning with sombre grandeur this strange city, girded with such
prodigious walls, was the Treasure-house that Chaltzantzin, the Aztec
King, had builded in the dim dawning of a most ancient past.
Young took his turn in looking through the glass, and as he handed it to
Fray Antonio he said: "If at any time in th' course o' th' past few
weeks, Professor, you've got th' notion from any o' my talk that I
thought that dead friend o' yours, th' old monk, was a liar, I want t'
take it all back; and I want t' take back all that I've said about that
other dead friend o' yours, th' Cacique, havin' set up a job on us. It's
clear enough now that both o' your friends played an entirely square
game. They said that there was a walled city, an' there it is; they said
that there was a big Treasure-house, an' there _that_ is. They were
perfect gentlemen, Professor, and I want t' set myself right on th'
record by sayin' so. If one of 'em hadn't been dead for more than three
months, and if th' other one hadn't been dead for more than three
hundred years, and if they both were here, I'd knuckle under and ask 'em
t' take my hat."
XXI.
THE WALLED CITY OF CULHUACAN.
Our use in turn of the field-glass was a mysterious performance that
aroused keenly the barge-master's curiosity. I heard him ask Tizoc for
an explanation of it; and Tizoc, who also was much interested, referred
his question to me. Had I been dealing with Tizoc alone I should have
tried to make the matter clear to him; but in the case of the
barge-master, whose feeling towards us, I was convinced, was anything
but friendly, I thought it wiser to be less frank. Therefore, covering
the action with a negligent motion of my hand, I screwed the glasses
close together, so that in looking through them there was to be seen
only a mass of indistinct objects looming up in a blurred cloud of
light, and so handed them to him. Naturally, neither he nor Tizoc
arrived at any very satisfactory conclusion in regard to the real use of
them; and from their talk it was evident that they conceived the
ceremony in which we had engaged in turn so earnestly to be in the
nature of a prayer to our gods. Fray Antonio was both shocked and pained
by their taking this view of the matter, and was for making a true
explanation to them; but at my urgent request he held his peace. Yet it
was evident that he brooded over the matter in his mind, and so was led
to earnest thoughts of the mission that had brought him hither into the
Valley of Aztlan. Therefore was I not surprised--though I certainly was
alarmed by the thought of what might be its consequences--when
presently, in low and gentle tones, he began to speak to those about him
of the free and glorious Christian faith, which in all ways was more
excellent than the cruel idolatry in which they were bound. Naturally,
he was not permitted long to speak in this strain, for the barge-master
speedily ordered him in most peremptory tones to keep silence; which
order doubtless would have been still more quickly given had not the
officer been fairly surprised by Fray Antonio's temerity into momentary
forgetfulness of the dangerous outcome of this gentle talk. And Fray
Antonio, knowing the value of the word in season that is dropped to
fructify in soil ready for it, did not attempt argument with the
barge-master--by which the thoughts of those who listened would have
been diverted from the hopeful promise of a better faith that he had
offered to them--but obeyed the order meekly and so held his peace. That
what he had spoken had taken hold upon the hearts of some at least among
his hearers I was well assured by their grave look of thoughtfulness,
and especially did Tizoc seem to be deeply moved; but--as I supposed for
fear of the barge-master--there was no open comment upon what had
passed.
By this time, the barge being all the while urged rapidly forward by the
steady strokes of the twenty oarsmen, the city rose so broadly and so
openly before us that we could see the whole of it distinctly with our
naked eyes. And what at this nearer view seemed most impressive about it
was its gloominess; that was due not less to the prison-like effect of
its heavily built houses and its massive walls than to the dull
blackness of the stone whereof these same were made. Nowhere was there
sparkle, or glitter, or bright color, or brightness of any sort to be
seen; and it seemed to me, as I gazed upon this sombre stronghold, that
dwelling always within it well enough might wear a man's heart out with
a consuming melancholy begotten of its cold and cheerless tones.
That it was indeed a stronghold was the more apparent to us the nearer
that we came to it. The plan of it was that of a great fan, spread open
upon the hillside, and extending also across the broad sweep of level
land between the base of the promontory and the lake. The promontory had
been so cut and shaped that its gentle slope had been transformed into
six broad semicircular terraces, above the highest of which was a
semicircular plateau of very considerable size, on which stood the
Treasure-house, that also was the great temple. Along the face of each
terrace, and around the face also of the plateau, a heavy defensive wall
rose to a height of twenty feet or more; and from the base of the
crowning plateau, thence accessible by a single broad flight of
stairs--being led through openings in the rampart walls of the terraces,
and down each terrace face by means of stair-ways--twelve streets
descended, of which the central six ended at the water-side and the
remainder against the great outer wall. It was this outer line of
strong defence that gave the city--which otherwise would have
corresponded curiously closely with the fortified city of Quetzaltepec,
described by the Mexican chronicler Tezozomoc--its most distinctive
characteristic. Such a vastly thick wall, for the great length of it, as
this was I never have seen in any other place; and so solid was the
building of it that it would have been proof against any ordinary train
of siege artillery. For defence against a foe whose only missile weapons
would be javelins and slings and bows, this great wall made the city
absolutely impregnable. And that the protection that it gave might be
still more complete--and also, as Tizoc explained to us, that in the
case of siege the water supply might be assured, together with a supply
of fish for food--the wall was carried out into the lake so far as to
enclose a basin of more than four acres in extent; within which, should
an enemy gain access to the valley, all the boats upon the lake could be
brought together and held in safety. And finally, the one entrance to
the city was by way of a tunnel-like canal cut in the wall thus rising
from the water; the outer end of which canal was closed in ordinary
times by a heavy grating, while in war time the inner end also could be
closed by means of great metal bars.
It was towards this entrance that the barge that carried us was heading.
Presently we reached it, and the grating was raised for our admission by
means of chains which were operated from the top of the wall. So low and
so narrow was the passage that our heads were within a few inches of the
huge slabs of stone of which its roof was formed; and the rowers had
need to unstep the mast and then to lay their oars inboard, while they
brought the barge through by pushing with their hands against the roof
and sides. The canal was fully forty feet long, and thus the enormous
thickness of the wall was made apparent to us. It truly was, as I
observed to Rayburn, a work that well might be attributed to the
Cyclops.
"I never met a live Cyclop, Professor," Rayburn answered, "and I don't
believe that these fellows ever did either; but it bothers me to know
how they managed to do work like this without a steam-derrick. If we get
out of here with whole skins and our hair on our heads, I hope it won't
be until I've had a chance to talk to some of their engineers, and so
get down to the facts."
A moment later we emerged from the tunnel through the wall, and so
entered the enclosed basin that extended along the whole of the city's
front. Within the basin were lying many canoes, and also boats of a
larger sort that carried oars and that were rigged with a sort of
lug-sail; but these all kept away from us, even as all the boats which
we had seen during our passage of the lake had given us a wide berth.
That our barge--one of those employed exclusively in the Priest
Captain's service--was thus shunned was due, as I found later, to the
wholesome dread in which the special servitors of the temple and of its
head universally were held; for these very frequently abused the
authority acquired through their semi-sacerdotal functions by using it
as a cloak to cover acts of purely personal oppression, while at all
times they were feared as the executors of their master's wrath. There
was, indeed (though I did not mention this fact to Fray Antonio), a
curiously close resemblance between the officials of this class and the
familiars of the Inquisition, both in the duties which they performed
and in the fear and hatred which they everywhere inspired.
But even dread of entanglement with the Priest Captain's servants could
not restrain the curiosity of the crowd that pressed towards us on the
broad pier upon which we disembarked. It was evident that this crowd was
not made up of the common folk of the city, and also that it was moved
by a purpose far higher than that of a mere idle longing to see
something that was strange. From their dress, and still more from the
beauty of their ornaments and the elegance of the arms which many of
them carried, it was obvious that for the most part these men were
citizens of the highest rank; and this fact was still further attested
by the dignity of their demeanor and by the reverent age to which the
majority of them had attained. So far from manifesting any vulgar
excitement, the crowd maintained an absolute silence; and with this an
exterior air of calm that was the more impressive because the eager,
almost awe-struck expression upon every face showed how strong was the
emotion that thus strongly was restrained. But when El Sabio, after much
coaxing, crossed the gang-plank between the boat and the pier, and so
came to where he could be seen of all plainly, there was a curious low
sound in the air as though all at once every man in the crowd had
heaved a sigh; and the sound swelled into a loud murmur as Pablo, in
obedience to a quick order that I gave him in Spanish, briskly mounted
upon the ass's back. In this murmur only one word was intelligible, and
that I caught again and again: the prophecy!
But Pablo was no more than fairly seated upon El Sabio's back than the
officer in command of our guard took him roughly by the shoulders and
snatched him thence to the ground again; which act led Tizoc and me to a
quick exchange of startled glances, for it showed very plainly that the
Priest Captain--to whom the messenger telling of our coming into the
valley had been sent before any of these people had seen Pablo mounted
upon El Sabio's back--had anticipated this sign of the fulfilment of the
prophecy and had given orders to prevent it. Luckily, the celerity with
which Pablo had executed my quick order to mount had saved the day for
us; and even more than saved it, for as we passed through the crowd, on
our way from the water-side into the city, I caught here and there
fragments of comment upon what had just passed which showed that not
only was the sign told of in the prophecy recognized, but that the
effort on the part of the officer to neutralize it was understood.
But before our going into the city there was a stirring conflict of
authority concerning us between the temporal and the spiritual powers.
We were no more than fairly landed, indeed, when an officer addressed
the barge-master, who continued in charge of our party, and gave him a
formal order to bring the strangers directly before the Council of the
Twenty Lords. And to this the barge-master replied that he already was
under orders to bring the prisoners, immediately upon their landing,
before the Priest Captain--and there was something both curious and
ominous, it struck me, in the marked manner in which the term
"strangers" was employed by one of these men and the term "prisoners" by
the other.
At this juncture we had further proof of the foresight of the Priest
Captain, and of the determined stand that he was prepared to make rather
than to suffer the miscarriage of big plans. While the barge-master and
the messenger from the Council still were engaged in hot talk as to
which of the two conflicting orders should be recognised, there was the
sound of tramping feet and of arms clanking; and then a body of fully
one hundred soldiers came quickly from behind a house that was near by
the water-side and swept down on a double-quick to where we were
standing at the end of the pier. The crowd, jostled aside to make way
for the passage of the soldiers, evidently regarded them with
astonishment; and this astonishment rapidly changed to anger as the
purpose that brought them thither was made plain. In a moment they had
closed in around us, separating us from the Council's messenger and from
Tizoc; the barge-master placed himself at the head of them, and in
sharp, quick tones gave the order to march; and the whole force, with
ourselves in the centre of it, went off the pier at a round pace, and
thence along a street that led towards the city's heart. Evidently
acting under orders, the men broke their platoons and closed in around
us; and I was well convinced that this unsoldierly marching was adopted
to the end that El Sabio might not be seen.
Fray Antonio agreed with me that the Priest Captain was carrying matters
with a dangerously high hand in thus opposing the will of the Council
with armed force. This act of his, if Tizoc had correctly represented to
us the excited condition of popular feeling, was quite sufficient in
itself to stir into violent activity the slumbering fires of mutiny. But
whether the revolt that we now believed must surely come would come in
time to be of service to ourselves, we could not but look upon as a very
open question.
"If this old scoundrel is as sharp as he seems to be," Rayburn said,
"and if he keeps things up in the way he's begun, it's about all day
with us. His play should be to get rid of us as quick as he can manage
it; and I should judge, from the cards that he's put down, that that's
precisely the way he means to manage the game. It's not much comfort to
us to know that after he's cleaned us out somebody else will rake his
pile."
As we talked, we went on rapidly through the city; and even the danger
that we were in, and the excitement that attended this sudden shifting
of our fortunes, could not prevent me from studying with a lively
curiosity the many evidences of an advanced civilization that I beheld.
The plan of the city, as I had discerned while we were approaching it,
was that of a wide-open fan. From the Treasure-house, on the height in
the centre, twelve broad streets radiated outward, of which three on the
northern side and three on the southern ended against the great
enclosing wall, and six came down through openings in the walls along
the several terraces directly to the water-front. All of these streets
were well paved with large smooth blocks of stone, and were led up the
faces of the terraces by wide and easy stairs. The transverse streets
were true semicircles, starting from and ending at the face of the
cliff, and were carried along the outer edges of the terraces, just
inside their facing walls. Rayburn was even more astonished than I was
by the exactness with which these great semicircles were laid off; for
he apprehended, as I did not, the difficulty attendant upon running a
line in a true and regular curve. But I am not prepared to say that this
work could not have been accomplished by mere rule of thumb. My friend
Bandelier, in the course of his admirable analysis of the ruins at
Mitla, has made clear to me how easy it is to attribute to scientific
knowledge work that is the result only of manual skill. As I have
pointed out in my discussion of this matter in my _Pre-Columbian
Conditions on the Continent of North America_, the plateau at the top of
this range of terraces easily might have been laid off in a true
semicircle by the simple means of a pointed stick at the end of a long
rope; and from the true line thus established the line of the terrace
below it could have been had--and so on down to the lowest terrace of
all.
There could be no doubt, however, that engineering skill of a high
order--howsoever crude might have been the actual method of its
application--was exhibited both in the preparation of the site, and then
in the city's building. On the site alone an almost incredible amount of
labor had been expended; for the rocky promontory--that primitively, as
the result showed, had been broken and irregular--had been so cut away
in some places, and so filled in in others, and the whole of it had been
so carefully trimmed and smoothed, that in the end it became a huge mass
of rock-work, in the regularity of which there was not perceptible the
smallest flaw. And in this preliminary work, as well as in the building
of the houses afterwards, fragments of stone were used of such enormous
size that the moving of them, Rayburn declared, would be wellnigh
impossible even with the most powerful engineering appliances of our own
time. Nor was the use of these huge pieces of stone confined to the
foundations of the houses. Some of them were high above the ground;
indeed, the very largest that we observed--the weight of which Rayburn
estimated at not less than twenty tons--was a single block that made the
entire top course of a high wall.
All of the stone-work was well smoothed and squared; and while the
exteriors of the houses were entirely plain, we could see through the
open door-ways that the interiors of many of them were enriched with
carvings. All were destitute of windows opening upon the street; and
their dull, black walls, and the dull black of the stones with which the
streets were paved, gave a dark and melancholy air to the city that
oppressed us even more heavily when thus seen closely than it had when
we beheld it from afar off. Yet the interior court-yards, so far as we
could tell from the glimpses that we had of them through open door-ways,
were bright with sunshine and gay with flowers; thus showing that the
gloom of these dwellings did not extend beyond their outer walls. I
observed with much interest that the provision for closing the entrances
from the street was not swinging doors of wood, but either metal bars,
such as we had seen in Tizoc's house, or else a metal grating, that was
arranged like a portcullis to slide up and down in a groove; and I
attributed the absence of wooden doors less to a desire for stronger
barriers than to the comparative recentness of the acquisition of the
knowledge of wood-working tools. Here, I thought, was a curious instance
of development along the lines of greatest resistance; for in itself the
invention and the making of a swinging door of wood was a much easier
matter than was the invention and the making of these finely wrought
sliding doors of hardened gold.
As for Young, the sight of all this gold-work quite took his breath
away. "It regularly jolts me, Professor," he said, "t' see th' genuine
stuff, that's good t' make gold dollars out of, slung around this way. A
front door of solid gold is a huckleberry above Jay Gould's biggest
persimmon; an' as t' Solomon, these fellows just lay Solomon out
cold--regularly down th' old man an' sit on him. Why, for just that one
front door of th' big house ahead of us I'd sell out all my shares in
this treasure-hunt, an' be glad t' do it. But I guess I'd have to hire
Samson--who was in that line of business--t' carry it off for me. It
must weigh a solid ton!"
By this time we had mounted all of the terraces, and the house towards
which Young pointed as he spoke was built directly beneath the crowning
plateau on which the great temple stood. It was the largest and by far
the most elegant house that we yet had seen, and the sliding grating of
gold that closed the entrance was unusually heavy, and very beautifully
wrought. Sentinels were stationed here, wearing the same uniform as that
of the soldiers who formed our guard; and this further indication of the
importance of the building gave us the impression that it was the
dwelling of some great dignitary. Close by the portal we were halted,
while the commander of our guard spoke through the grating to some one
inside. A moment later the grating was slowly raised, and we were
marched through the narrow entrance, and so along a short passage-way
into a long, narrow chamber that obviously was a guard-room; for spears
and javelins were ranged in orderly fashion upon racks, and swords and
shields and bows and quivers of arrows were hung upon the walls. Here we
were halted again; and while we stood silent together, wondering what
might be in store for us in this place, we heard the heavy grating
behind us close with a dull clang.
XXII.
THE OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION.
So dismal was this sound, and so many were the dismal possibilities that
it suggested, that as I heard it a cold chill went down into my heart;
and I was glad enough that we at once were led forth from the
guard-room, and that in consideration of matters of immediate moment my
mind was diverted from dwelling drearily upon a future that seemed full
of gloom.
For all the brilliant blaze of sunlight that brightened the large
court-yard into which we were conducted, there was about it curious
coldness and cheerlessness. As in the case of all the other houses which
we had observed, the stone-work of the walls and of the pavement was a
dull black; but here there were no flowers, nor bright-colored hangings
over the inner doors, nor brightness of any sort or kind. The carving of
the stone was extraordinarily rich, to be sure; but the bass-reliefs
which covered the walls were wholly of a gloomy sort--being for the most
part representations of the slaughter of men in sacrifice, and the
tearing of hearts out--so that the eight of them made me shiver,
notwithstanding the warmth of the sun. From the centre of the court-yard
abroad stair-way ascended to the plateau above on which the temple
stood; and this direct way of communicating with it led me to the
conclusion that the building was a dependency of the temple, and that
very likely the higher members of the priesthood were housed here.
However, little time was given for looking around us, for our guard
hurried us--El Sabio following close at Pablo's heels--across the
court-yard to a door-way at its farther side, before which hung in heavy
folds a curtain of some sort of thick black cloth. Across this entrance
the guard was drawn up in orderly ranks behind us; and then the
barge-master, who had preserved absolute silence towards us since our
march through the city began, held aside the curtain and silently
motioned to us to enter.
From the bright sunshine we passed at a step into a chamber so shadowy
that we involuntarily stopped on the threshold, in order that our eyes
might become accustomed to the semi-darkness before we advanced. The
only light that entered it came through two narrow slits in the thick
wall above the portal that we had just passed; and the glimmer diffused
by the thin rays thus admitted was in great part absorbed by the black
draperies with which everywhere the room was hung. As our eyes adjusted
themselves to these gloomy conditions we perceived that we were in a
hall of great size; and presently we were able to distinguish objects
clearly enough to see that at the far end of it was a raised dais,
having a sort of throne upon it; but not until, being urged forward by
the officer, we had traversed more than half the length of the hall did
we discern upon the throne the shadowy figure of a man.
Being come close to the dais, the officer halted us by a gesture; but no
word was spoken, and for several minutes we stood in the semi-darkness
of that strange place in absolute silence. For myself, I must confess
that I was somewhat awed by my surroundings, and by the impassive
silence and stillness that the dimly seen figure upon the throne
maintained, and I am sure that Fray Antonio's imaginative nature was
similarly impressed; as for Pablo, I distinctly heard his teeth
chattering in the dark. But neither Rayburn nor Young, as the latter
would have expressed it, awed easily, and it was Rayburn who presently
spoke.
"This fellow in the big chair would be a good hand at private
theatricals. He's got a first-rate notion of stage effect. Hadn't I
better stick a pin in him and wake him up?"
"There's no good in stickin' pins into _him_," said Young, in a tone of
great contempt. "What's the matter with him is, he's not real at
all--he's stuffed!"
There was something so absurdly incongruous in these comments that they
acted instantly upon my overstrained nerves, and I burst into a laugh,
in which the other two immediately joined. Evidently, this was not at
all the effect that this carefully arranged reception was intended to
have upon us; for the seated figure started suddenly and uttered an
angry exclamation, and at the same time gave a quick order to the
officer.
"I take it all back," said Young; "he ain't stuffed. I guess he was only
asleep."
As Young spoke there was a slight rustle of draperies, and in a moment
the curtains which had veiled four great windows in the four sides of
the hall were pulled aside, and the darkness vanished in a sudden blaze
of light. While we shaded our eyes for some seconds, Rayburn said, with
great decision: "This settles it. He must have been in the show business
all his life."
But the man whom we now saw clearly did not look like a showman. He was
a very old man, lean and shrivelled; his brown skin so wrinkled that his
face looked like some sort of curiously withered nut. Yet there was a
wonderful sinewiness about him, and a most extraordinary brightness in
his eyes. His face was of the strong, heavy type that is found in the
figures carved on the ruins in Yucatan; a much stronger type than I have
observed anywhere among the Mexican Indians of the present day. His
dress was a long, flowing robe of white cotton cloth, caught over his
left shoulder with a broad gold clasp, and richly embroidered with
shining green feathers; and shining green feathers were bound into his
hair and rose above his head in a tall plume. His sandal-moccasins (for
the covering of his feet was between these two) repeated the sacred
combination of colors, green and white; and on his breast, falling from
his neck, were several richly wrought gold chains. Even apart from his
stately surroundings, his dress--and especially the shining green
feathers which were so conspicuous a part of it--would have informed me
that this man was a priest of very exalted rank; and the conditions of
our presentation to him assured me that he was none other than the
Priest Captain, Itzacoatl. And I may add that if ever a high dignitary
of a heathen religion was in a rage, Itzacoatl was in a rage at that
particular moment. Young's comment lacked reverence, but it was to the
point: "Well, he _has_ got his back up, for sure!"
With an alertness that was astonishing in one of his years, Itzacoatl
rose quietly from the throne; and as he pointed to us with a commanding
gesture, he asked, sharply, why we had been allowed to retain our arms,
and ordered them to be taken away from us; which order troubled us
greatly, and also occasioned us a very lively surprise. As for the
barge-master, he evidently was vastly puzzled by it; for, according to
his notions, we were not armed. He did not venture to reply, but his
uncertainty was to the duty that was expected of him was apparent in his
hopeless look of entire bewilderment. It seemed to me that for a moment
the Priest Captain was slightly confused, as though he recognized the
incongruity between his own knowledge in this matter and his officer's
ignorance; and in explaining his order he took occasion to refer to the
superior knowledge with which he was endowed by the gods. Fray Antonio
and I glanced at each other doubtingly as he spoke, for this explanation
struck us as being decidedly forced. The gods of the ancient Mexicans
pre-eminently were war gods; but they certainly were not likely to have
any very extended knowledge of Winchester rifles and self-cocking
revolvers.
However, when the officer comprehended what was required of him, he was
prompt enough in his actions. Without any ceremony at all he laid hands
on Young's rifle, that was hanging by its strap on his shoulder, and
endeavored to take it away from him. This was a line of action that the
Lost-freight Agent by no means was inclined to submit to. Without any
assistance he unslung the rifle, cocked it as he jumped back half a
dozen steps, and then raised it to his shoulder, with his finger on the
trigger and the muzzle fairly levelled at the officer's heart. "Shall I
down him?" he asked.
"Don't shoot!" Rayburn cried, quickly; and in obedience to this order
Young slowly dropped the rifle from his shoulder, yet held it ready for
action in his hands. The perfect calmness of the officer through this
exciting episode afforded the most convincing proof that fire-arms were
wholly unknown to him. And the conduct of the Priest Captain afforded
equally convincing proof that he not only understood the nature of
fire-arms, but that he was very much afraid of them; for, at the moment
that Young made his offensive demonstration, he very precipitately
sheltered himself by crouching behind the throne.
"Don't shoot!" Rayburn repeated. "We may have a chance to pull through
if we don't rile these follows; but if we go killing any of them now
it's all day with us, for sure. We'd better let 'em have our guns; but
there's something mighty odd in their having found out all of a sudden
what a gun is."
Very reluctantly Young surrendered his rifle to the officer, who looked
at it contemptuously, as though he considered it but a poor sort of
weapon in case real fighting was to be done. In turn, the rest of us
gave up our rifles also; and we were mightily pleased because the
officer did not attempt to take our revolvers away from us. But in this
our satisfaction was short-lived, for the Priest Captain quickly ordered
the officer to relieve us of them, and of our cartridge-belts as well;
nor was it until we had been thus entirely disarmed that he arose from
his undignified position and resumed his seat upon the throne.
While the disagreeable process of disarming us was going on I spoke to
Fray Antonio of the curious possibilities suggested by the knowledge of
fire-arms which the Priest Captain, alone among all the Aztlanecas, so
obviously possessed; and he, in reply, bade me remember what Tizoc had
told us of the use that Itzacoatl made of wax-matches in lighting the
sacred fire. "Can it possibly be, then, that he is in communication with
the outside world?" I exclaimed.
As I uttered these words I glanced at Itzacoatl, and the expression on
his face was that of one who listens intently, and who is greatly
enraged by what he hears. At the same moment Rayburn cried: "That man
understands Spanish. He is listening to you."
Doubtless, some sort of an explanation would have followed this strange
discovery, for that we had made it was very obvious, but at that moment
a man--seemingly, from his dress, a priest of high rank--came into the
hall hurriedly, and very earnestly delivered a communication to
Itzacoatl in low, excited tones. That the substance of this
communication was highly disagreeable to him was shown by his manner of
receiving it; and for a moment he slightly hesitated, as though very
grave consequences might attend upon the decision that he then made. But
it was for a moment only that he stood in doubt. Then he called the
barge-master to him, and gave some order in a low voice; and then,
accompanied by the priest, went out rapidly from the hall.
Evidently in obedience to the order that he had received, the
barge-master bade us follow him, and so led us into the court-yard
again. Young proposed, since we had only this one man to deal with, that
we should make short work of him, and so get back our arms--which
remained where he had placed them in a pile beside the throne. But
Rayburn's more prudent counsel overcame this tempting proposition. As he
pointed out, the promptness with which the curtains had been pulled back
showed that attendants of some sort were close at hand; and, in addition
to these, we knew that the guard of soldiers was just outside of the
entrance to the hall. It was certain, therefore, that we could not
regain our arms without immediately using them in very active fighting;
and no matter how well we fought, under these conditions we must
certainly be defeated in the end. All of which was so just and so
reasonable that Young could not in anywise gainsay its propriety; but he
was in a very ill humor at being restrained from the pleasure of having
it out with them, as he grumblingly declared; and as we passed out into
the court-yard he relieved his mind by swearing most vigorously.
For my part, even the peril that we were in did not suffice to distract
my mind from curious consideration of the strange state of affairs that
existed among the folk dwelling in this hidden valley if our surmise in
regard to the Priest Captain's knowledge of the outer matches, his
acquaintance with fire-arms, and his knowledge of the Spanish tongue.
The implication was unavoidable that this extraordinary man actually had
a more or less complete knowledge of the powers and appliances of the
nineteenth century, and that he was using his nineteenth century
knowledge to maintain his supremacy over a people whose civilization was
about on a par with that of European communities of a thousand years
ago. From the stand-point of the ethnologist, a more interesting
situation than the one time developed could not possibly be devised.
What I most longed for was the establishment of such friendly relations
with Itzacoatl that I could carry out a systematized series of
scientific investigations among the Aztlanecas before the impending
crash of discovery came; and my keenest regret at that moment was caused
by the conviction that the incapacity of Itzacoatl to understand the
value of scientific inquiry into such curious ethnologic facts would
result in his mere vulgar killing of me, whereby a precious store of
knowledge would be withheld from the world at large.
As we came out into the court-yard we heard the sound of voices, which
seemed to be raised in angry altercation, coming from the direction of
the main entrance, with which there was also a slight clinking sound as
of arms being got in readiness; and, much farther away, the sound
seemingly coming from distant quarter of the city, the tapping of a
drum. When we first had crossed the court-yard it had been entirely
deserted; but now many priests and soldiers were standing in groups
about it, and more were coming down the stair from the temple; and all
of these men had a look of eager alertness, as though some decisive
event were imminent in which they expected to have a part. But we had
only a moment in which to observe all this, for we were hurried away
towards the corner of the building that was most remote from the street,
and here, before I well could understand what was being done with me, I
was thrust so suddenly and so violently through a narrow door-way that I
fell heavily upon the floor. Before I could regain my feet Young had
tumbled down on top of me, and then the others tumbled on top of us
both--they having been in the same rude fashion injected into the
apartment; and while we thus were lying in a heap together--my own body,
being undermost, having the breath wellnigh squeezed out of it--we heard
the rattle of metal upon stone as the door-way was quickly closed with
heavy bars.
We struggled to our feet in wellnigh total darkness--for outside the
bars a curtain had been dropped that shut off almost wholly the light of
day--and I am confident that no one room ever contained two angrier
people than Rayburn and Young were then; for their very strength and
hardihood made them the more ragingly resent being thus tumbled about as
though they were bales or boxes rather than men. Rayburn's language was
not open to the charge of weakness; but the words in which Young gave
vent to his feelings were so startlingly vigorous that even a Wyoming
cow-boy would have been surprised by them; yet I must confess that at
the moment--so greatly was my own anger aroused--I thought his
observations exceedingly appropriate to the occasion that called them
forth, and I even was disposed to envy him the command of a technical
vocabulary that enabled him to express so adequately his righteous
wrath. However, I was for once well pleased that Fray Antonio did not
understand English.
But our anger quickly was swallowed up in anxious grief as we
discovered, when our eyes had become somewhat accustomed to the very
faint light, that only we four were in the room together; and a great
dread fell upon us because of the imminent peril to Pablo which this
separation of him from the rest of us implied. Assuredly there was
strong reason why he should be an especial object of Itzacoatl's fear
and hatred. He and El Sabio together were the visible sign which told
that the prophecy touching the Priest Captain's downfall was about to be
fulfilled; and, more than this, Pablo's simple statement of the
condition of affairs among the modern Mexicans--showing that the crisis
in their fate that Chaltzantzin had foretold, and for which he had so
well prepared, long since had come and gone--would be far more
convincing to the masses of the Aztlanecas than would be any exhibition
of these same facts that we could make to them; for we were aliens among
them, while Pablo was of their own race and class. That we all were like
to be done to death by this barbarous theocrat we did not for a moment
doubt; but it was plain enough that every motive of self-interest must
prompt him to put Pablo and the poor ass most summarily out of the way.
And as the logic of these facts irresistibly presented itself in my mind
a keen and heavy sorrow overcame me, for I could not shirk the
conviction that, whoever might strike the blow that killed him, I myself
was the cause of this poor boy's death. Fray Antonio could not see my
face in that shadowy prison, yet his fine nature divined the pain that I
suffered and the cause of it, and he sought to comfort me with his
sympathy. He did not speak, but he came close beside me and tenderly
laid his hand upon my shoulder; and his loving touch, telling of his
sorrow for me and with me, did bring a little cheer into my heavy heart.
Meanwhile the commotion outside increased greatly, and even through the
thick folds of the curtain we could hear plainly the clanking of arms,
and the heavy tread of men, and sharply given words of command. We
pressed close to the bars and tried to push, the curtain aside that we
might see out into the court-yard; but the bars were so near together
that our hands would not pass between them, and we therefore could
gather only from the sounds which we heard what was going on outside.
But the sounds were unmistakable. There could be no doubt whatever that
a vigorous assault upon the building was in progress, and those within
it vigorously were defending it; and we knew that the cause of the
fighting certainly must be ourselves. Already, it would seem, the
prophecy of the Priest Captain's downfall was assuming a tangible
reality; for this rising in arms against him could mean nothing less
than that his high-handed refusal to permit us to be carried before the
Council of the Twenty Lords had fairly brought matters to a crisis, and
that the long-threatened revolution actually had been begun.
XXIII.
A RESCUE.
That the two parties should be thus battling for possession of us gave
us a gleam of hope for the saving of our lives. While we remained
prisoners, in the ward of the Priest Captain, we knew that our death was
inevitable; inasmuch as the witness which we bore against him, if
suffered to be published, must of necessity bring his authority to an
end. But should we pass into the ward of the Council, there was every
reason why we should be cherished and protected; because, in their
behalf, we would be witnesses to the justice of their rebellion against
Itzacoatl's rule. Nor would this feeling of amity towards us be confined
to the leaders of the revolt; for we had perceived the substantial
nature of the reasons which Tizoc had given us in support of his
assurance that the hope of deliverance from oppression which our coming
brought would raise up around us a host of friends. Therefore we knew
that upon the issue of the battling that we heard the sounds of so
loudly, and yet that might as well have been a thousand miles away for
all that we could see of it, our fate must depend.
And knowing this, it was a hard trial of our nerves and tempers to be
forced to remain there idle in the dark, without the chance to strike in
our own behalf a single blow. Young strode backward and forward in such
a fashion, and the mutterings beneath his breath were so like growls,
that the likening of him to a wild beast in a cage, while trite, is
strictly accurate. Rayburn, not less resolute, but more self-contained,
pressed close against the bars and never stirred, save that now and then
he cracked his thumbs and fingers together with such vigor that the
sound was like a pistol-shot. And even I, who am not naturally of a
blood-thirsty disposition, found the need of walking briskly about our
prison in order to quiet a little my strong longing to be outside with a
weapon in my hands wherewith I could crack some skulls open. Indeed,
among us all, only Fray Antonio maintained an outward show of calm.
Thus far, all the sounds which we had heard had come to us from the
direction of the front of the house, whence we inferred that the fight
was being waged, greatly to the disadvantage of the assailants, through
the grating by which the entrance was closed. But suddenly there was an
outcry of alarm close by us in the court-yard, and then the sound of
hurrying feet there, and then a roar of shouting mingled with the fierce
clash of arms--so that we knew that the assailants, either by beating in
the grating or by scaling the roof, had got inside. They and the
defenders were engaged, hand to hand, almost within arm's-length of us.
We could hear loudly the yells with which every stroke was accompanied,
and the clang of metal striking upon metal, and the dull, crushing sound
of the blows which went home truly and carved through flesh and
bone--and we could see no more of it all than if we were dreaming, and
these sounds of savage warfare were but the imaginings of our brains!
One man, being, as we supposed, pursued by another from the central part
of the court-yard--where, as it seemed, the fight raged most hotly--made
a stand just outside the curtain that overhung the bars whereby we were
pent in; and we could hear him panting as he struck and parried there,
and then the splitting of his flesh and the crash of his bones as a
tremendous blow overcame his guard, and the soft, deep groan that he
gave as his life left him. His body fell against the curtain and dragged
it a little; and presently, as I stood there by the bars, I found that
my feet were in a pool of blood.
It was only a moment or two after this that the sounds of conflict very
sensibly diminished, and we heard a rush made, and the confused tread of
feet upon the stairs that led upward to the temple, and then came so
jubilant a shouting that we knew that to one side or the other had come
victory.
"If th' Priest Captain's outfit's on top," Young said, grimly, "I guess
we've about got t' th' end of a division; an' there's not much chance of
our changin' engines an' keepin' on with th' run." To which figurative
suggestion Rayburn gave an immediate grunt of assent.
But at that very instant there was a lull in the tumult outside, and we
heard a voice that I recognized as Tizoc's loudly calling to us; and to
his hail, that carried such joyful meaning with it, I joyfully and
loudly answered. To Rayburn and Young, of course, the call was
unintelligible, nor did they recognize the voice of him who called; and
they therefore were disposed to think, when I fell to shouting, that my
brain was addled. However, they changed their views a minute or two
later--the dead body resting against the curtain having been thrown
aside, and the curtain itself torn down--when they saw Tizoc's friendly
face outside the bars, and then saw the bars rapidly removed.
"Colonel," said Young, very seriously, as we stepped forth thankfully
once more into the sunshine, "you may not know what a brick is, but you
are one. Shake!" and very much to Tizoc's astonishment, though he
perceived that the act was meant to express great friendliness, Young
most vigorously shook his hand. Under more favorable circumstances
Tizoc, no doubt, would have asked for an explanation of this curious
ceremony, but just then his whole mind was given to making good his
retreat and so securing us against recapture. There was not a moment to
lose, he said; throughout the city the priests everywhere were rallying
forces to Itzacoatl's support, and at any instant we might be attacked.
As he spoke he drew us away with him towards the street, where the main
body of his men still remained--for only a small part of them had joined
in scaling the roof, and so taking the enemy by surprise in the rear.
"But what of Pablo, our young companion?" I asked, stopping short as I
spoke.
"My men are looking for him; they will find him in a moment; he surely
is safe; he may be already outside. Come."
The possibility that Pablo truly might be outside of the building was
the only argument that could have induced us to leave it without him;
and that possibility was so reasonable a one that we made no more delay.
Indeed, we fully realized the necessity for promptness. From all parts
of the city came a humming, angry sound, which assured us that
everywhere the people were aroused; and Tizoc bade us arm ourselves with
what weapons we could use most effectively among those which were
scattered about the pavement of the court-yard, as we surely would have
need of weapons soon. A sword was the only instrument of warfare of
which I had knowledge--which knowledge was acquired during my German
student days--and I took, therefore, one of the heavy maccuahuitls; and
the others also, excepting Fray Antonio, similarly armed themselves,
each with a sword that they found lying beside the dead hand that never
would wield it more. It was as we obeyed Tizoc's order that we saw how
fierce and how bloody the fight had been; for the court-yard was red
with blood, like a slaughter-house, and over the stones everywhere dead
bodies were lying, all cut and gashed with ghastly wounds. Excepting a
few of Tizoc's men, who had bound up their hurts, and who staggered
along with us, not a wounded man remained alive; whence we inferred that
the fight had been waged on strictly barbarous principles, and that no
quarter had been given. And of this we had proof; for as we passed
through the guard-room we found there a moaning wretch, belonging to the
Priest Captain's party, in whose chest was a great hole made by a
spear-thrust--and at a sign from Tizoc one of our men stepped aside, and
with a blow of his heavy sword coolly mashed in the wounded man's skull,
and so finished him.
The metal grating that closed the entrance had been raised by Tizoc's
people from the inside, and we passed out beneath it to where the main
body of his men was drawn up in readiness to march. But of Pablo and El
Sabio there was no sign. Tizoc was not less distressed by the loss of
the lad than we were, for he had counted upon the moral effect which the
exhibition of Pablo and El Sabio most certainly would produce to aid
powerfully in fomenting the spirit of revolt. When, therefore, we
refused to go forward until further search had been made, he did not
oppose us; but he told us plainly that further looking for him in that
place was useless, for already every room in the building had been
examined without the finding of a trace of him. There could be no doubt,
he said, that when we had been made prisoners Pablo, and El Sabio with
him, had been taken up the stair to the temple for greater security; in
which place, if they were not both by this time dead, they still
remained. Whereupon Young was for making an attack upon the temple
instantly, and in this project Rayburn and I warmly seconded him; and
even Fray Antonio said that this was a case in which he felt justified
in using carnal weapons, since the fighting would be to rescue from
among infidels a Christian soul.
But Tizoc hurriedly explained to us the hopelessness, at that time, of
such an assault. The success that had attended his bold rescue of us had
been due to the suddenness of it; for the majority of the people in the
city, including the large force of soldiery there, assuredly was on the
Priest Captain's side. It was outside the city that the strength of the
revolution must be gathered; and his orders were, when his rescue of us
should be accomplished, to carry us safely out beyond the walls with all
possible speed. Such of the Council of the Twenty Lords as had decided
to take the chances of revolt--being all the members of that body save
the five priests that had belonged to it--already had gone down to the
water-side, together with the small force that they had gathered, that
they might seize the water-gate and hold it until we should join them.
Even now it was certain that in going down through the city we should
have to fight our way, and each moment that we delayed our retreat
increased our danger. Capturing the temple now was a sheer
impossibility. Our only hope of saving Pablo's life lay in our getting
away promptly, and so beginning the preparations that would lead to
ultimate victory.
All the while that Tizoc spoke he was edging us away towards the outer
face of the terrace, where steps led downward; and when the men who had
been searching the building once more for Pablo returned without him, he
resolutely gave the order to march. To the arguments that he had
advanced we were compelled to yield; but our hearts were heavy with
sorrow for the boy whom we were leaving behind us, and little hope was
in our breasts that we ever again should see him alive.
The truth of Tizoc's words about the great danger that we ourselves were
in became apparent as we crossed the terrace next below that on which
our march began. Where the street passed through the rampart by a narrow
portal, and so by a flight of stone steps descended to the next level,
soldiers were clustered together with the evident intention of disputing
the way with us. Their number was so much less than ours that we made
short work of them; killing a few, and driving the remainder down the
steps before us. But those who escaped ran on ahead of us to where the
next rampart was, and there joined themselves to a much larger body that
lay in wait for us. Here our work was less easy; for the force that
confronted us was nearly our equal, and some resolute fighting was
required before we could drive it before us and so pass on. Some of our
men were killed there, and more of the enemy; and I got a trifling hurt
in my arm from the point of a javelin, that, luckily, did little more
than graze the skin. I do not think that I killed anybody there, but I
remember very plainly the look of pain and of anger on the face of that
fellow who poked his javelin at me when I gashed his arm, and broke the
bone of it, with a blow from my sword. I was glad, at the moment, that I
had succeeded in giving him a worse hurt than he had given me; and then
the absurdity occurred to me of my thus fighting with a total stranger,
against whom I had no personal ill-will; and I could not but feel sorrow
for him as I thought of the long time that he must suffer severe pain
and great inconvenience because I had chanced to strike him that blow.
However, from the way in which they went cutting and slashing about
them, it was evident that neither Rayburn nor Young were troubled with
any compunctions of this nature. They were only too glad, apparently, to
get a chance to whack away at any of the Priest Captain's
representatives; and they made such use of their opportunity that the
Aztlanecas fighting with us cried out in admiration of their prowess and
their strength. Fray Antonio was more sorely tried than any of us during
this passage, for I knew that his flesh greatly longed to take part in
the fighting, and that only the strong spirit which was within him
subdued the flesh and so held his hands.
With a final rush we succeeded in forcing the enemy through the narrow
opening in the rampart, and so down the steps beyond; but as we pursued
them across the next terrace, keeping close at their heels so that they
might not have time to form again, many of our wounded fell out from the
ranks and dropped by the way--and we had left behind us a dozen or more
of our dead on the ground where the fight had been.
Our tactics of rapid pursuit of the force that we had defeated served us
well at the next rampart; for the men whom we pursued and we ourselves
came to it almost in one body, and thus threw into such confusion the
fresh force that was waiting for us that, without any long fighting
about it, we drove right through them and went on downward; and in the
same dashing fashion we carried the rampart beyond. However, when those
men whom we had pushed aside from our path so easily got over their
surprise at being so lightly handled, they formed in our rear and came
hurrying after us; the result of which was that as we approached the
last of the ramparts that we had to pass through, where was gathered the
largest body of men that we had yet encountered, we found ourselves
fairly wedged in between two bodies of the enemy and outnumbered four to
one. Here, too, the passage through the rampart had been closed by the
metal bars that were in readiness for that purpose. Setting these in
place was no real barrier to our passage, for, being intended to close
the portal against assailants from below, the fastenings which held them
were on the side nearest to us. But to remove them it was necessary that
we should fight our way through the crowd--with no possibility of
driving the enemy before us, as we had done upon the upper terraces,
since here the way was closed. What we did was literally to cut a path
through the throng; and over the men who fell dead or wounded beneath
our blows we made our advance. There was a curious creeping, uneasy
sensation in the region of my stomach as I trod thus on the bodies of
wounded men who were not dead yet, and felt them moving, and heard their
groaning; and I was conscious of a feeling of relief when a body that I
trod upon did not squirm beneath my foot, and so by its stillness
assured me that I was standing only on dead flesh that had no feeling in
it.
Very slowly did we go forward, for while the living barrier that we had
to deal with was not at the outset more than twenty feet, or
thereabouts, in thickness, hacking it down took us a tediously long
time. While still we faced a dozen or more very desperate fighters, who
held us off most resolutely from the metal bars which closed the way, a
pang of dread and sorrow went through me as I perceived that Fray
Antonio, who a moment before had been close beside me, had disappeared.
That he might the better restrain his longing to take part in the
fighting he had remained in the centre of our men; and it was hard to
understand how, in that position, harm could have come to him, for
missiles had no share in the work that was going forward, which was a
fiery struggle hand to hand.
As I looked for him in the throng--so far as I could do this and at the
same time keep up my guard against the man whom at that moment I was
fighting with--I saw some signs of uneasy movement among the enemy in
advance of us, and several of them evidently made an effort to reach
down as though to get at something that was on the ground; which effort
was wholly futile, for they were wedged so tightly together by our
pressure upon them that reaching downward was impossible. By a lucky
blow, I just then finished the man with whom I was contending, and so
had a moment's breathing spell; and at that instant I saw one of the
enemy, whose back was ranged against the bars, rise up in the air as
though a strong spring had been loosed beneath him, and then fall
sidewise upon the heads and shoulders of his fellows. And then, in the
place thus made vacant, the cowled head of Fray Antonio instantly
appeared--whereby I guessed, what afterwards I knew certainly, that he
had crawled along the ground through the press until he reached the
place that he aimed at, and then had risen up beneath one of the enemy
with such sudden violence that he fairly had sent the man spinning
upward into the air. What his purpose was I saw in a moment, for no
sooner did he stand upright than he had his hands upon the metal bars,
and then I heard the clinking together of stone and metal as he lifted
them bodily away.
XXIV.
THE AFFAIR AT THE WATER-GATE
Rayburn gave a great roar of gladness as the clinking sound made him
turn and he saw what was going forward; and Young and I joined him in
lusty Anglo-Saxon cheering, while our allies, in the savage fashion
natural to them, vented their joy in shrill yells. In the midst of which
cheering and yelling we pushed forward so hotly that the enemy,
disconcerted by this sudden shifting of fortune in our favor, and the
men directly in front of us being most seriously incommoded by their
comrade lying sprawled out and kicking upon their heads and shoulders,
seemed suddenly to lose heart so completely that we had no difficulty
in cutting them down. Even had they not been too closely wedged in to
turn upon Fray Antonio, our strong dashing upon them would have
compelled them to leave him unharmed in order to defend themselves; and
so it was that, by the time we had cut a path to the portal, the monk
had released the whole tier of bars from their fastenings, and the way
was free.
As we sprang down the steps--with Fray Antonio, once more in the guise
of a non-combatant, safe in the midst of our company--we heard a great
outcry from below, and saw a considerable body of men marching up
towards us steadily from the water-side; but the alarm that sight of
them gave us was only momentary, for their shouts, and the shouts of our
men in answer, showed us that these were friends come to our support.
However we had no great need of them, for those of the enemy whom we
left alive behind us seemed suddenly to have grown sick of fighting, and
made no attempt to follow after us down the stairs. Yet the coming of
this supporting force, to be just in the matter, no doubt was the saving
of us; for more than half of the men who had been with us when we
started on our march down through the city had been slain by the way,
and nearly all in our company were more or less disabled by wounds.
Tizoc and Young and Rayburn had come through it all without as much as a
scratch, and because of their extraordinary strength these three were
almost as fresh as when the fighting began; but the rest of us were
sorely weary, and our breathing was so heavy and so tremulous that each
breath was like a long-drawn sob. Truly, then, we were glad to fall in
in advance of the supporting column and so make our way, with a strong
rear-guard for our protection, across the bit of level land that lay
between us and the lake.
At the water-side boats were in readiness for us, and here we found also
the members of the Council who had ordered, and who were the recognized
leaders of, the revolt. There was still more fighting ahead of us, for
the necessity of sending back the relief party had prevented the seizing
of the water-gate; and this was a matter that had to be attended to
quickly, for we could see bodies of men coming down several of the
streets in pursuit of us, and unless we escaped outside the wall before
they overtook us there was a strong and dismal probability that our
whole plan would fail. Therefore, we tumbled aboard the boats with all
possible rapidity, and while the pursuing parties still were far in our
rear we shoved off from the shore.
Two minutes' quick rowing sufficed to carry our flotilla of boats across
the basin, and so brought us to the long pier that extended landward
from beside the water-gate, and from which an open stair-way ascended to
the top of the wall. On the pier there was no one at all to oppose our
landing; and the force on the wall was not likely to be a large one, for
the outbreak had come so suddenly that there had been no time to
increase the small detail maintained in this position in times of peace.
Only a few of our men, therefore--thirty or forty, perhaps--were ordered
out of the boats to the attack, of which the leader was Tizoc, and with
which Rayburn and Young went as volunteers. I also would have joined the
party; but Rayburn, knowing that I was slightly wounded, begged me to
stay where I was; and Young, as he ran up the stairs, called back to me:
"You just see that they keep steam up, Professor. We'll attend t' takin'
off th' brakes."
What went on above us, on top of the wall, we could not see; but the
work done there was done quickly. There was a little shouting, a sound
of arms clashing, and then four or five men--as though this were the
easiest way of getting rid of them--were thrown over the parapet, and
fell near us in the water. To these short shrift was given. As they came
to the surface, our fellows instantly finished them with a spear-thrust
or two. Then we heard the sound of a windlass creaking, and the clanking
of chains; and as we looked through the opening in the wall we saw the
grating that closed its farther end rise slowly until the way before us
was free. Two of our boats already were in the passage, so that no time
might be lost; and as these passed out into the lake, the others
followed after them rapidly. One boat remained to bring off the
attacking party, and we wondered a little because its coming was a good
while delayed. But we wondered still more when it joined us at last, and
we found that Tizoc and Young and Rayburn were not in it; indeed, at
that moment I saw the three of them standing together on top of the
wall. In answer to the shout that I gave, Rayburn leaned over the wall
and motioned to me to keep silence; and so I knew that they had not been
left behind through treachery, but were staying there because they had
some plan against the enemy that they thus could execute. And for
knowledge of what their plan was we did not have to wait long.
As we lay on our oars, off the outer end of the water-gate, we could see
through it into the basin that lay before the city, and in a very few
minutes the pursuing boats of the enemy came into view. As they neared
us, we saw standing in the bow of the leading boat the same officer who
had commanded the guard that had brought us as prisoners before the
Priest Captain; the man of whom I have spoken, for what his real title
was I do not know, as the barge-master.
He was calling to his men savagely to row faster; for our boats were so
scattered that he only could see the one in which we happened to be, and
he doubtless imagined that the others had gone forward, and that this
one waited to carry off some of our men who yet remained on the wall. He
evidently hoped to be able to cut us off from the rest of our party, and
his eagerness had so communicated itself to his oarsmen that his boat
led the others by nearly a hundred yards. So far as this one boat was
concerned, we felt no alarm, for the moment that it came out through the
wall our whole force was ready to dash upon it; yet we wondered why
Tizoc permitted even a single boat to come out to the attack, when, by
dropping the grating, they all could be penned in so effectually as to
give us the advantage of a long start.
As the boat neared the water-gate the barge-master went back from his
place in the bow to the middle part of it, and there crouched down; and
some soldiers who were standing crouched down also; and almost as the
bow entered the low, narrow passage the oars were unshipped and taken
aboard. So cleverly was the unshipping of the oars managed, and so good
was the steering, that the boat shot into the passage under full speed,
and so came nearly through it before losing head-way. And we who were
nearest to it got our arms in readiness--for we were convinced that in
another minute the barge-master would lay us aboard. But this was not
destined to be, nor were the men in that boat destined ever to do any
more fighting in this world.
All this while Rayburn had stood close by the parapet, bending over it
and intently watching the outside of the water-gate; above which the
heavy metal grating had been hauled up, in the metal grooves that it ran
in, almost to the top of the wall. At the moment that the bow of the
boat showed outside the opening he raised his hand, as though signalling
to Young and Tizoc behind him; and in that same instant we heard the
shrieking of the windlass and the quick clanking of the unwinding
chains, and saw the metal grating rushing down the face of the wall.
With all the force generated by the fall from so great height of so
ponderous a body, the grating came crashing into the boat just
amidships, fairly dividing its heavy timbers and forcing the fragments
of it, together with all the men that it carried, down into the water's
depths. But the barge-master died by a quicker death than drowning. He
still was crouched in the middle of the boat, and the sharp angle of the
lower bar of the grating struck him just on the nape of his neck so
keenly that his head was cut off and seemed of itself to spring forward
and away from him; while the broad flat bar, coming down upon his bowed
shoulders, crushed his body into a mere quivering mass of flesh.
A great yell of delight went up from our boats as this brilliant stroke
so brilliantly was delivered; and an answering cry of triumph--that was
one-third a yell and two-thirds a cheer--came back from Tizoc and the
others on top of the wall. However, they had no time to waste in
shouting over their success, for the remaining boats of the enemy had
come by this time to the pier inside the wall, and it seemed highly
probable that in a minute or two more our three men would be prisoners.
But for all their danger they coolly finished the work that they had in
hand. As they explained to me afterwards, Rayburn stood at the head of
the stair to hold the enemy in check should they come before the work
was finished--and very strong as well as very brave men must the man
have been who would have ventured to attack him as he occupied that
position of overpowering advantage--while the other two cast off from
the windlass the chains by which the water-gate was operated, and
dropped them over the wall into the lake; and as the gate itself was
jammed and wedged fast by the fragments of the boat, this throwing down
of the chains made the raising of it a serious undertaking that well
might require a day or more to accomplish.
As the chains fell with a splash, and we comprehended the thoroughness
of the work that these three were doing, our people burst forth into
yells again; and a perfect roar went up from them when, the gate being
closed and the apparatus for raising it being entirely disabled, Rayburn
sprang from the outer edge of the parapet into the lake, and Tizoc and
Young instantly followed him. In truth, a more gallant feat of arms had
not been essayed, nor carried to a more triumphant conclusion, since the
Roman gate was held by Horatius; and in my admiration of it I shouted
until the muscles of my throat were strained and aching. Our boat
already was near the wall--having pulled in that the soldiers aboard of
it might spear such of the enemy as came up to the surface alive--and we
had the three out of the water and safe among us in very short order;
and then we pulled away towards the other boats with all possible
speed--for the wall now was manned by the enemy, and they were beginning
to make things unpleasantly hot for us with the heavy stones which they
heaved over the parapet, that our boat might be sunk by them, and by a
rapid discharge of darts. Luckily, none of the stones struck us, and
because of the rapid way that we were making, only two of our men were
struck with the darts. So, on the whole, we came out of this encounter
very well; for these two men killed in our boat were all that we lost,
while of the enemy at least forty were drowned or speared. However, we
owed our light escape mainly to the fact that the enemy, having armed
hurriedly, and expecting only to fight with us at close quarters, had
with them neither bows nor slings--but for which fortunate fact it
scarcely is possible that a single man in our boat would have come off
alive.
[Illustration: THE LEAP FROM ABOVE THE WATER-GATE]
Dripping wet though they were, I fairly hugged Rayburn and Young when
they were safe aboard with us, as did also Fray Antonio, whose daring
spirit was mightily aroused by witnessing their splendid bravery. And in
giving them hearty words of praise for what they had done--which yet
fell far short of their deserts--I naturally likened them to the Roman
hero. Indeed, I may say that the parallel that I there drew was an apt
one, and in some of its turns was not devoid of grace.
"I can't say, Professor," Young answered, when I had finished, "that I
ever heard o' th' party you refer to, but if this Horace--what did you
say his last name was?--pinched his fingers in th' drawbridge chains as
damnably as I pinched mine in th' chains of that infernal grating, I'll
bet a hat he was sorry that he hadn't run away!" And I truly believe
that Young thought more about his pinched fingers than he did about the
resolute bravery that he had shown in finishing his work upon the wall
in the very face of the advancing enemy.
Being once out of range of the darts, we pulled towards the other boats
leisurely; for now we were entirely safe against pursuit, and were free
to go upon the lake in whatsoever direction we pleased. That some
positive line of action had been determined upon was evident, for the
flotilla already was in motion as we came up in the rear of it--the boat
containing the members of the Council leading--and the order was passed
back to us that we should follow with the rest. From the direction in
which we were heading, Tizoc inferred that we were bound for the only
other considerable town in the valley, that which had grown up around
the shafts leading to the great mine whence the Aztlanecas drew their
supply of gold. There was a very grave look upon his face as he told us
of our probable destination; and presently added that the population of
this town--save the few freemen who were in charge of the workings, and
the large guard of soldiers that always was maintained there--was made
up wholly of Tlahuicos who had been selected from their fellows to be
miners because of their exceptional hardiness and strength.
It was among these men, he went on to tell us speaking in a low, guarded
voice, that the most dangerous of the revolts of the Tlahuicos
invariably had their origin; for the miners were fierce, half-savage
creatures, naturally turbulent and rebellious, and were stirred
constantly to resentful anger because of the life of crushing toil that
they were condemned to lead. So dangerous were they that the only
effective means of keeping them in subjection was to hold the major part
of them continually prisoners underground in the mine, with a guard
stationed at the mouth of each shaft under orders to kill instantly any
man who attempted to come forth from the mine without authority. In
order that their labor, a thing of positive value, might not be lost
through their dying of being thus imprisoned in the bowels of the earth,
they were divided into ten great companies, each one of which, in
regular order, was employed in the surface work under the constant
supervision of a strong guard. Yet even these stern measures were not
wholly effective in preventing mutiny. Many times great revolts had
broken out here that had set all the valley in an uproar, and that had
been crashed only after pitched battles had been fought between the
rebels and the entire military force of the state. The town was a
veritable volcano, Tizoc declared; and because of the dread of it that
universally obtained, by reason of the frequent outbursts there of
lawless violence, it had received the name of Huitzilan: the Town of
War.
And there could be no doubt, he added--while the tones of his voice and
the look upon his face showed how great he believed to be the risk
involved in this line of policy--that in now directing our course
towards the mining town the deliberate purpose of the Council was to
incite these semi-savage, wholly desperate miners to join forces with us
in our rising against the Priest Captain's power.
XXV.
THE GOLD-MINERS OF HUITZILAN.
As we rounded a mountain spur that extended a long way out into the
lake, a deep bay opened to us; which bay ran close in to the cliffs
whereby the valley was surrounded, and was at no great distance from the
Barred Pass, through which we had made our entry. At the foot of the
bay, built partly upon the level land near the water-side, and partly
upon the steep ascent beyond, was the town of Huitzilan--whereof the
most curious feature that at first was noticeable was a tall chimney,
whence thick black smoke was pouring forth, that rose above a stone
building of great solidity and of a very considerable size.
On archæological grounds, the sight of this chimney greatly astonished
me; and Rayburn, who was a very well-read man in all matters connected
with his profession, was greatly astonished by it also; for the chimney
obviously was a part of extensive reduction-works, and we both knew that
such complete appliances for the smelting of metal, as seemed from this
sign to exist here, were supposed to be the product of a high state of
civilization in comparatively modern times. As for Young, he declared
that the chimney gave him a regular jolt of homesickness; for, excepting
that it was built of stone instead of brick, it might have been, for the
look of it, transplanted hither directly from the region of the Back
Bay. "I s'pose we'll be hearin' th' noon whistle next," he said,
mournfully; and presently he added: "Do you know, Professor, I b'lieve
I'm beginnin' t' see daylight in all this tall talk you say th' Colonel
has been givin' us about th' 'rebellions,' as he calls 'em, that go on
here. He don't mean t' close our eyes up, th' Colonel don't, for he's a
first-class gentleman; but, bein' born an' bred a heathen, he don't know
any better. What he's tryin' t' tell us about, an' can't, because he
don't know th' English for it, is _strikes_. That's what's th' matter.
Miners are bound t' go on strikes. It's their nature, an' they can't
help it. That chimbly gives th' whole thing away. You just tell th'
Colonel that we've got down t' th' hard-pan an' really know what he's
been drivin' at. An' t' think of there bein' strikes in Mexico! I didn't
b'lieve that a Greaser had backbone enough, or ambition enough, t'
strike at anything!"
However, as I had no great amount of faith in Young's theory, I did not
attempt to translate to Tizoc what he had said to me; nor was there any
opportunity for further talk at that time. Already the foremost boats of
the flotilla had made a landing at a well-built pier that extended from
the shore into deep water; and a minute or two later our boat also
pulled in to the pier, and we disembarked. The general view of the town
that I then had showed me that it was closely built over an area rather
more than half a mile square; that the houses for the most part were
mere hovels, of which the largest could not contain more than two small
rooms; and that the few houses of a better sort were within the strong
stone wall by which the reduction-works also were enclosed. At the pier
where we landed a boat was in process of lading with bars of gold for
transport to the Treasure-house in the city; and I thought that I never
had seen anywhere more savage-looking fellows than the almost naked
laborers by whom the work of lading was carried on. Physically these men
were magnificent creatures--tall and well-shaped and vigorous, and the
ease with which they handled the great bars of gold showed how enormous
must be their strength. But so full of venomous hate were the sullen
looks which they cast upon us, and so savage was the effect of their
coarse, dishevelled hair falling down over and partly veiling their
great glittering eyes, whence these angry glances were shot forth at us
like poisoned darts, that I was thankful to see that, all told, there
were not more than a dozen of them, and that three times as many heavily
armed soldiers served as their guard. And looking at these creatures,
who were truly less like men than dangerous wild beasts, I could not
wonder at the grave concern which Tizoc had manifested at thought of the
risk which we ran in taking them for allies. "It's as easy t' start
'em," Young said, when he came to an understanding of the situation, "as
'tis t' start a freight-train down a three per cent. grade. But what I
want to know is, when we want 'em t' stop, how in th' h--ll are we ever
goin' t' set th' brakes?"
[Illustration: THE TLAHUICOS AND THEIR GUARDS]
Yet, dangerous to ourselves though the use of it must be, our hopes of
success rested mainly upon our ability to control and to employ
effectively this savage material. Fortunately, it was not the whole of
our reliance; and it was our intention to leaven this dangerous lump
with the very considerable number of trained and trustworthy soldiers
that we had available as the substantial nucleus of our fighting force,
and also with the larger body of both slaves and freemen--not regularly
drilled soldiers, to be sure, yet many of them trained in the ways of
war--that we counted upon to join us from among the people at large.
This outline of the plan of action that the Council had determined upon
was exhibited to us by Tizoc during our passage down the lake; and I was
glad to find that Rayburn--for whose judgment I had much respect in
such matters--was disposed to think well of it.
"If I expected to stay here, Professor, after the row was over," he
said, "I mightn't be quite as well satisfied with this plan of theirs
for running things. The war part of the programme is all right. They
won't have any difficulty in getting their Tlahuicos to fight anything
in the way of an army that the Priest Captain shows up with. Fighting is
just what will please them more than anything else. Where the trouble is
going to come in is when the fighting is over and they go in for
reconstruction. It's one thing to make fighters out of this sort of
stuff, but it's quite another thing to make respectable citizens out of
it. That's where the hitch will be. But as we don't intend to settle
down in this valley--unless we find that there's no way out of it--we
needn't bother about that part of the performance at all. That's their
funeral, not ours. So, for my part, the sooner they get their army in
shape, and get the fighting part settled, the better I'll be satisfied."
To do the members of the Council justice, they seemed to be even more
eager than Rayburn was to forward the work that they had in hand. From
the pier they went directly to the enclosure in the centre of the town,
within which was the building ordinarily occupied by the commandant of
the post and by the officials of the civil government; and in this
place, Tizoc informed us, they intended immediately to organize the new
government, and then to proceed with all possible despatch to make
arrangements for placing an army in the field.
In Tizoc's company, but more leisurely, we also went on to the
Citadel--as we found the enclosure about the smelting-works was
called--where comfortable quarters had been provided for us in the same
building wherein the Council was housed. Here we waited, in somewhat
strained idleness, while the Council carried on, in a chamber not far
removed from us, its exciting work of destroying a government that had
endured for more than a thousand years; and we were mightily surprised,
knowing how prodigious was the change that then was being wrought in
ancient institutions, by observing how quietly it all went on. The
murmur of talk that came to us, unchecked by any intervening doors, had
no sound of excitement or of anger or of violent emotion of any sort;
and I could not but hold in admiration the calm, self-contained natures
of these men who thus equably and rationally could deal with such vastly
weighty affairs.
While this great matter--which could end only in wild commotion and
fierce battling--went forward in this quiet way, Tizoc opened to us
much that was of curious interest touching the near-by gold-mine and
they who mined the gold. Of the existence of the mine, he said, the
Aztlanecas had remained ignorant for many generations after their coming
into the valley; and for many more generations but little gold had been
taken from it, because the metal was of no value to his people save for
the making of ornaments. But when the process had been discovered by
which this metal could be hardened, and so made serviceable for all
manner of useful purposes--and this the more because, by the
manufacture that then ensued of tools wherewith the rock could be easily
worked, mining in a large way became possible--the development of the
mine upon a great scale had been begun, and had been continued upon a
constantly increasing scale from that time onward. All the earth beneath
where we then were, he said, was honey-combed with passages which
followed the several veins; and of these there seemed to be no end at
all, for ever as each vein was exhausted another not less rich was
found--and thus is seemed as though all the substructure of that great
mountain range were one huge mass of gold.
What the measures of weight were with which he estimated the annual
output of the mine, I could not clearly understand, but the matter was
made approximately plain to us by his statement that the daily product
of the mine never was less than one of the great bars of gold that we
had seen upon the pier in process of carriage to the Treasure-house; and
that sometimes, when veins of extraordinary richness were encountered,
even so much as four of these bars had been smelted from the ore that
the mine yielded in a single day.
"Those bars don't weigh an ounce less than two hundred pounds apiece,"
Rayburn said, when I had translated to him what Tizoc had told me. "That
makes the output of the mine not less than three tons a month, and, in a
rough way, a ton of gold is worth just about half a million of dollars.
If the Colonel isn't mixed in his figures, and if you've translated him
straight, Professor, these fellows are taking out somewheres in the
neighborhood of twenty millions a year."
Young gave a long whistle. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed, "that just is an
all-fired big pile of money t' be wasted on a lot of barelegged heathen
critters like these, who don't know th' Ten Commandments by sight, an'
who've never even heard of a cocktail! D' you know what I'm goin' t' do,
Rayburn, when I realize on this investment? I'm goin' t' buy th' Old
Colony Railroad, just for th' sake of bein' able t' bounce th'
Superintendent. He bounced me after that freight smash-up--and it wasn't
my fault that th' operator got mixed an' gave me th' wrong orders--and
I'll give him a taste o' th' same kind. Won't it just paralyze him when
he gets his orders t' quit, signed 'Seth Young, President,' an' finds
out it's th' same old Seth Young who used t' run Thirty-two on th' Fall
River division?"
"Hadn't you better let him down easy by telegraphing him right now to
begin to look out for a new place?" Rayburn asked. "We'll wait for you
here, while you step over to the Western Union office"--which cool
comment upon Young's enthusiastic discounting of a bright future brought
the gloomy present so clearly before his mind that his castle-building
ended suddenly, and he lapsed into silence.
But great though our wonder was at the prodigious quantity of precious
metal that this mine yielded in each year, and amazed though we were by
thought of the vast store of treasure that the valley now must hold, I,
for my part, felt a far deeper interest in what Tizoc went on to tell
us concerning the men by whose toil the treasure had been accumulated.
And, truly, so bitter and so dreary was the life of the Tlahuicos who
were forced to labor here unceasingly, and through so long a period had
they been thus cruelly dealt with, that it seemed to me there must rest
upon all the Valley of Aztlan a heavy curse that only some signal act of
expiation could remove. And the coincidence struck me as most curious
that here among the Aztecs, wrought by themselves upon the men of their
own race, should be found identically the same cruelties which the
Spaniards practised upon the Indians whom they enslaved as miners in New
Mexico: whereof came that fierce outburst of revolt two hundred years
ago, when the Pueblos ravaged with sword and flame the whole valley of
the Rio Grande from Taos to the Pass of the North.
There was small ground for wonder that the Tlahuicos, thus crushed by
over-heavy labor, and dealt with as though they were not men, but fierce
and dangerous brutes, should cherish at all times in their breasts a
sullen fire of mutiny; nor that on every occasion at all favorable to
their purposes there should spring forth from the glowing embers of
their hatred a vivid and consuming flame. Only by the strength and the
vigilance of the guard that constantly was maintained over them was
their tendency to rebellion held in check; and even the guards could not
prevent frequent outbreaks--which ended only in the cruel slaughter of
all concerned in them--so passionately eager was the longing of these
desperate creatures for revenge.
Only once, a vastly long while past, Tizoc said, had success attended an
effort on the part of the Tlahuicos to release themselves from their
cruel slavery, and that they then eluded the vigilance of their masters
was due to their employment of strategy against force. The whole matter,
he continued, was now but a half-remembered tradition, yet the main
details of it were clear. In that far-back time a vein of extraordinary
richness had been followed for a very long distance in the direction of
the Barred Pass; and, as the event proved, the gallery was carried
beyond the bars, passing far beneath them, and so went onward, steadily
rising, until an outlet was had into the cañon. That the secret of this
outlet might be kept among the men who had opened it, these slew the
guard that watched over them and thrust his body out into the cañon,
thus most effectually placing it beyond the reach of the search that
would be made for it; and the opening that they had made they closed
carefully, and continued a little way onward into the rock the gallery
in which they were working: so that the superintendent of the mine might
see clearly (what, indeed, was the truth) that the vein of ore had been
followed to its end.
Tizoc knew not how long a time passed before the Tlahuicos made use of
the way of escape thus opened to them; but their flight could not have
been taken hastily, because it included a very great number of them, and
included also carrying with them large quantities of arms for warfare,
and of useful household stores. He could say certainly no more than
that when all their well-laid plan was ready to be executed, they rose
against the soldiers which guarded them with such suddenness and brave
violence that they succeeded in seizing and in holding the Citadel;
which gave no chance for grave uneasiness, for the officers of the force
thus for a moment driven off thought that because of their retiring
within so narrow a place they speedily must surrender for dread of being
starved there; and it was held to be but a sign of their still greater
simplicity--since thus would there be more hungry mouths to fill--that
they carried their women and children with them into the stronghold
where they lay besieged.
But so strange was the desolate silence that hung over the place into
which so great a multitude had retired, that the besiegers presently
were moved by it to a wonder wherein was a strong feeling of awe; and
still greater was the marvel that they had to ponder upon when, at last,
meeting with no opposition, they broke in the grating that barred the
entrance to the Citadel, and found within the enclosure not one single
living soul! And so cleverly had the fugitives closed the way behind
them that a long while passed before it was known certainly what had
become of this living host that, as it seemed, in a moment had vanished
from off the face of the earth. More than half a lifetime went by
without the shedding of light upon this mystery; and it seemed as though
a ghost had risen when one day a very aged man came forth from that
long-abandoned passage in the mine and surrendered himself to the first
of the guards whom he encountered--and then told that he was a priest
whom the fleeing rebels had carried captive with them, and whom they had
held a prisoner through all these many years. And he told also how the
rebels had made their home in a certain fair valley that was shut in and
hidden among the mountains; and how that they had built a great
city--resting fearless in the conviction that they were safe from harm.
By the heavy toil that had been needful to open anew the way into the
mine from the cañon, the little remnant of strength in this old man's
body had been exhausted; and presently, having told his story, he died.
Then it was that the Priest Captain and the Council who ruled in that
ancient time, having assured themselves by the sending out of spies that
all which the old man had told them was true, planned to bring upon the
rebels a very terrible vengeance; which was to drown them all in their
city by letting loose upon them the waters of a mighty lake. And this
plan, though its accomplishment was not arrived at until two full cycles
had passed away, so mighty was the labor that it involved, at last was
executed: and in one single day every living creature in all that valley
was overwhelmed by the flood let loose into it; and where so great a
mass of teeming life had been there remained thereafter only the
desolate silence and stillness of universal death.
It was with long-drawn breaths that Fray Antonio and I listened to
Tizoc's telling of this tradition, which in many ways was far more real
to us than it possibly could be to him; for we but lately had passed
through that death-stricken valley--and ourselves had been like to die
there--and every feature of the scene, that he could but vaguely
describe to us, we had clearly in our minds. And thus we came to know
the full meaning of the great catastrophe whereof we had seen the
outworking, both in the destruction wrought by it and the way of its
accomplishment, but of which we had divined no more concerning its cause
than that in some way it must have resulted from a slowly worked-out
vengeance prompted by a most malignant hate.
XXVI.
THE GATHERING FOR WAR.
Although the whole of the discussion of their plan of revolt was carried
on by the Council with so calm a gravity, there was enough of energy and
of quick movement when their deliberations came to an end; and we
augured well of the result because they thus had delayed their action
until their plan for making it effective had been fully matured. The
whole of that first day in Huitzilan, and much of the following night
also, was given to arranging clearly what must be done in order to set
up a temporary government and to get an army together; and how well this
preliminary work was accomplished was shown by the precision and
celerity with which the plans then made were executed during the
immediately ensuing days.
During this period we had ample time to look around us; and, being now
upon a most friendly footing with the strange people among whom we thus
strangely found ourselves, we were heartily aided--so far as this was
possible because of the exigencies of that stirring time--in
investigating the manner of their lives. The material then was obtained
for my chapter on the "House Life and Domestic Customs of the Aztecs";
and the knowledge which Rayburn gathered (also embodied in his own
paper, that attracted so much attention when read before the American
Institute of Mining Engineers) he has permitted me to use in my chapter
on "Mining and Metal-working among the Aztecs"; which two chapters are
among the most note worthy _Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent of
North America_. Rayburn, indeed, was lost in wonder as he came to
understand how far scientific investigation had been carried among this
isolated people, and how well they had learned to apply their scientific
knowledge to their practical affairs. In many matters, to be sure, they
fell far behind the remainder of the civilized world; but a large part
of the useful knowledge that has been gained by study under civilized
conditions elsewhere we found here also as the fruit of independent
discovery. In many cases the discovery was identical in every respect
with our own. Thus, their process (the adding of hydrochloric acid to a
neutral solution of auric-chloride) for producing from gold a rich
purple stain, that was employed in the coloring of hard-wood and bone,
was precisely that which Boyle mentioned in 1663; and, as nearly as I
could determine the date, it was about that very time that they, also,
first effected this combination. In the matter of hardening gold, and
thereafter giving it all the qualities of tempered steel, they had made
a step that was distinctly in advance of anything which our
metallurgists had accomplished; and I am strongly inclined to the belief
that--at least among the priests--knowledge had been gained of a process
quite unlike that known to us for producing a gold fulminate. I was not
so fortunate as to gain more knowledge of this matter than could be
learned from hearsay, but from several sources I heard of the splitting
asunder of a certain great rock by the Priest Captain--which wonder was
accompanied by a thunderous noise and a gleam of flame and a bursting
forth of smoke--whereby he was considered to have proved that the aid of
the gods was at his command. But to my mind, and also to Rayburn's, the
proof was, rather, that he had at his command--in some way that as yet
our chemists have not fathomed--the aid of a gold fulminate that could
be controlled in use as readily as we control gunpowder. That this
agent, whatever it might be, was not easily available, was indicated by
the fact that the Priest Captain never had given more than this single
exhibition of the wonders which he could accomplish with it; and that it
then had served his purpose well was shown by the obvious awe with which
all who told me of it spoke of the dreadful havoc that thus visibly was
wrought by what they termed the thunder of the gods.
Indeed, a very serious difficulty that the leaders of the revolution had
to overcome was the unwillingness on the part of the people at large to
defy the power of their spiritual chief; which feeling among the upper
classes was mainly because disobedience to the Priest Captain was, in
effect, heresy; while among the lower classes there was joined to a like
horror of heresy a very lively dread of the punishment, both temporal
and spiritual, that the Priest Captain could bring upon them because of
his intimate relations with the supernatural beings by which the forces
of the world were controlled.
Yet out of this condition of affairs arose an opportunity that Fray
Antonio was not slow to make the most of. Our coming into the valley
with news of the outside world that directly controverted the Priest
Captain's claim to infallibility gave a great shock to the religious
faith of the community, and so induced a willingness to listen to the
preaching of a new and purer creed. And on the part of those of the
Council who were organizing the revolution--among whom religion seemed
to be regarded less as a vital fact than as a matter of political
expediency--there was a strong disposition to encourage the spread of
doctrines which obviously, by weakening the Priest Captain's hold upon
the people, would increase their own strength. Therefore, Fray Antonio
found himself free to preach to this heathen multitude the glorious
Christian faith; and that he was granted this most rare and signal
opportunity, the like of which was not given even to the blessed Saint
Francis himself, so filled and exalted his soul with a radiantly joyful
thankfulness that he was as one transformed. And his holy enthusiasm,
that thus made every fibre of his being vibrate with a grateful
gladness, gave him also so eloquent a command of beseeching language
that it was a living wonder to perceive how his inspired words
penetrated into the minds, darkened by superstitious doctrines, of those
to whom he spoke, and so sunk into their hearts and brought the restful
happiness of the faith Christian to those who had known only the
restless terror of idolatry throughout all their lives. Like a pure
flame, the doctrine that he preached ran through that host of the
heathen, burning out from among them the impure creed whereby their
souls had been held in a most cruel and desolate bondage, and giving in
the place thereof the tender comfort of a saving Christian grace.
Yet the very fervor of Fray Antonio's preaching, and the strong hold
that the gentle doctrine which he set forth took upon the hearts of the
multitude, tended also to stir up against him a lively enmity among
those who, refusing to hearken to him, remained steadfast in the ancient
faith. Many such there were among us at that time in Huitzilan; but
because of the firm grasp that Fray Antonio had upon so many hearts, and
also because of the countenance which the Council gave him, these did
not venture to assail either him or his doctrine openly; yet, as I noted
at times the evil glances which they shot forth at him--which surely
would have killed him could he thus have been slain--I was filled with
dread that hate so malignant as here was shown must surely find
expression in a direct attempt upon his life. Fortunately, there no
longer were any priests among us. Of these there had been a
considerable number in Huitzilan upon our first coming there, but
silently, one by one, they had disappeared--going, as we well knew, to
join themselves to the force which the Priest Captain was gathering
against the time when the issue between us would be settled by the
arbitration of arms. And those who went from our camp to his must have
carried with them news of the peril that menaced the ancient faith
through the new faith that Fray Antonio preached so zealously in such
burning words; for of his knowledge of what Fray Antonio was doing, and
of his dread of what might therefrom result, we presently had proof in a
way that filled our hearts with a very dismal fear.
All the while that this curious, and to me most interesting, conflict
between a primitive and a highly developed religion went on, the more
practical work went on also of establishing a new government and of
organizing an army whereby it might be maintained. So far as the setting
up of a government was concerned, the matter was comparatively easy; for
the majority of the Council had come out with us from Culhuacan, and
these had but to adapt to the requirements of the new situation the
governmental machinery that already was established and at their
command. And they were surprised pleasurably by finding how readily this
transformation was effected; for among the higher classes--from which
classes the officials of the government exclusively were drawn--the
feeling of hatred against the Priest Captain, begotten of his many acts
of cruelty and oppression, was so strong that the opportunity now
offered to turn against him was seized upon most gladly. In every town
throughout the valley the emissaries of the Council were warmly
welcomed; and presently the new government was established everywhere
save in the capital city and in certain villages upon the lake border
lying close beneath its walls.
The work of organizing an army, however, was a more difficult matter;
for very serious obstacles, both moral and material, had to be overcome
before we of the revolutionary faction could place an effective fighting
force in the field. Of what I may term regular troops, that is to say,
thoroughly drilled and disciplined soldiers, we could count upon but
few; for, practically, the whole body of the army had remained faithful
to the Priest Captain and was with him in Culhuacan. For the most part,
also, the regular troops scattered through the garrisons of the various
towns had betaken themselves immediately to Culhuacan upon the
acknowledgment by the civil officers of these towns of the authority of
the new government; and at the same time had departed with them nearly
all the priests, and such few persons of the upper classes as desired
the maintenance of the ancient order of things. The result of which
general movement at least gave us the advantage of carrying on
unmolested our own work of concentrating and organizing; and, so far,
was a positive service to us.
As the nucleus of our army we had the corps that Tizoc commanded, the
highly organized body of troops charged with the important duty of
guarding the Barred Pass; and we had also the few hundreds of men who
had come out with us from Culhuacan. From these sources we were able to
draw officers to command the irregular force, largely made up of
Tlahuicos, that the Council rapidly got together; while for the
organizing of the main body of our troops, the savages who worked in the
mine, the bold stroke was made of mingling them with the men who, until
then, had been their most relentless enemies--the soldiers who had
served as their guards. That it was possible to put in operation this
daring plan was due, I think, in great part to the fact that both guards
and miners were led to accept the extraordinary fellowship that it
created by a genuine shock of surprise; and before they had at all
recovered from their astonishment their interests became identical,
through their common need of defending themselves against a common
enemy. And, further, I am well convinced that the Tlahuicos had been in
part prepared, before our coming into the valley, to join in the revolt
that under any circumstances could not have been much longer delayed. In
regard to this matter, Tizoc persistently evaded my questions; but I
remembered very distinctly his curious hesitancy when he had told me of
the effective part that the servile class could be made to take in the
event of a rebellion; and I perceived many evidences of a secret
understanding between him and certain of the miners during the time that
the gathering for war was going on in Huitzilan. Therefore, I inferred
that the seeds of revolt which germinated so readily had been long since
sown.
Of all the disabilities under which we then labored, the most serious
was the lack of an adequate supply of arms. The great arsenal of the
Aztlanecas was in Culhuacan; and thus nearly the whole of the supply of
munitions of war in the valley was in the Priest Captain's hands.
Fortunately, the shipment of hardened gold that we had intercepted--by
landing at the pier whence in a few hours it would have been despatched
to the Treasure-house--gave us a good supply of raw material out of
which spear-heads, and the heads of darts, and swords could be made; and
night and day the forges blazed in Huitzilan while the manufacture of
these weapons went on. Of bows and arrows it was not possible to make
many in that short time, but of slings there was no difficulty in making
enough to supply our entire force--and among these people, who are
wonderfully skilful in the use of it, the sling is a most deadly
implement of war. We lacked time, also, to make any large number of
shields, and our deficiency in this respect was regarded by Tizoc, and
by all the military officers who were with us, as a most serious matter;
for not only would our men without shields be the more easily slain in
battle, but their fighting value would be lessened by their
consciousness that they were without this piece of furniture that all
savage races hold to be so necessary in war.
However, of defensive armor we had a good supply, for it chanced that in
the Citadel there was a great store of cotton cloth, suitable for making
long kirtles of many thicknesses of cloth quilted together; which
kirtles were arrow proof, and well protected a man from his neck
downward almost to his knees. Young was disposed to think but lightly of
this curious armor, but when Tizoc, to convince him of its utility,
demonstrated its power to resist a well-pointed arrow shot at very short
range he was forced to confess its entire applicability to the purpose
for which it was designed.
"Tell th' Colonel that I give in, an' think it a first-rate notion,
Professor," he said. "But if you can get it into his head, an' I'm
afraid you can't, just tell him that when this barelegged army of ours
gets fitted out with those little night-shirts they'll look for all th'
world like a lot o' fellows who've scrambled out of a hotel that's
caught fire in th' middle o' th' night. All that'll be wanted t' make
th' thing perfect 'll be a couple o' steam fire-engines, an' a crowd
with all their clothes on, an' a line of policemen. I guess it's goin'
t' be one o' th' funniest lookin' armies that was ever seen outside of a
lunatic asylum. What I'd like to do, Professor, instead o' tryin' t' do
any fightin' with it, is just t' take th' whole outfit back t' th'
States an' make a show of it. I'd get Benito Nichols t' go in with
me--he's a first-class man, Benito is, an' he's a boss hand as a show
manager--an' we'd call it 'Th' Aztec Warrior Army an' Circus
Combination,' an' we'd just rake in th' dollars quicker'n we could count
'em. That makes me think o' that show we were talkin' about makin' with
Pablo an' his burro." Young's voice changed as he spoke, and there was a
huskiness in it as he added: "I s'pose by this time there ain't much
left for show-makin' purposes of either of 'em. No, I guess I'll stay
around an' take a hand in any fightin' that's goin' on; for I'd pretty
near be willin' t' be killed right away after it myself for th' chance
t' square things with that old devil for killin' our boy. He was a good
boy, Professor, an'--How this devilish dust does get into my eyes an'
make 'em water." With which highly irrelevant remark--for there was no
dust blowing just then--Young suddenly ceased speaking and walked away.
This was the only time that we spoke of Pablo while we lay at Huitzilan,
for talk about the boy only increased the bitter sorrow for him that was
in all our hearts. As for my own heart, it was wellnigh broken as I
thought that but for me his gentle life would still be flowing on
smoothly--as I had found it flowing when, in an evil hour, I joined his
fortunes with mine, and so had brought him to so untimely and to so
cruel a death. And I, too, longed for the fighting to begin that I might
avenge him; for the accomplishment of which vengeance I was not merely
in part, but altogether ready to yield up my own life.
Indeed, excepting only Fray Antonio, who saw in warfare only the
wickedness and the cruelty of it, we all were most eager for our
inaction to end, and for the battling to begin that would give us
opportunity to let the life out of some of those by whom Pablo had been
slain. It was with delight, therefore, that we noted the rapidity with
which the preparations for the impending campaign were carried forward,
and saw how each day the disorderly host that had been gathered at
Huitzilan was changing from a confused mass of good fighting material
into a body fairly well adapted to the needs of war. It was, in truth,
astonishing to us--for we could not well comprehend how essentially
warlike were the instincts of this people, and how quick, therefore,
they must be in military matters--to observe the promptness that was
shown in getting our army in readiness for the field. And with our
astonishment came also a comforting conviction that the force that could
be so quickly, and, as it seemed, so effectively organized, must surely
hold well together, and fight well together, when the hour for fighting
came.
XXVII.
AN OFFER OF TERMS.
During the time that our various preparations thus went forward we had
no direct news from the stronghold of the enemy; yet many vague rumors
reached us of the army that was being set in order there to take the
field against us. On the other hand, the constant departure from among
us of those who were loyal to the ancient government kept the Priest
Captain well informed of all that was in progress in our camp. No effort
was made by the Council to prevent these departures, for all of our
plans were working so well, and our forces were increasing so
prodigiously, that it was to our advantage that the enemy should have
news of our rapidly augmenting strength; and especially was it hoped
that the news thus carried to the city might incline many there who
wavered in their allegiance to take open part with us--or, at the least,
to refuse to take part against us--and that in this way there might be
stirred up a very dangerous spirit of mutiny within the enemy's lines.
The plan of campaign that the Council had adopted struck me as being an
exceedingly prudent one. This was that we should not attempt an attack
upon the city--for, indeed, to assail such fortifications without
artillery would have been utterly hopeless--but should wait until the
enemy came out to assail us, and then meet him on our own chosen ground.
In every way this plan was in our favor. It most obviously was to our
advantage to delay as long as possible the battle that was inevitable,
and that, when it did come, must decide the fate of the rebellion
finally. Every day that this was deferred was a substantial gain to us,
in that the organization of our army was thereby rendered the more
complete, and also in that the effective hold of the new government upon
the people throughout the valley was thereby strengthened. On the side
of the enemy, delay would produce no corresponding gain, rather would it
tend to weaken the hold of the Priest Captain upon those who remained
faithful to him; and, being shut up with his whole army and a multitude
of non-combatants within those great stone walls, a very terrible foe,
against which stone walls are no defence, presently would attack him in
the shape of hunger. Therefore we had only to wait--maintaining the
while a vigilant patrol of guard-boats on the lake, so that no fresh
supplies might reach the garrison in the city--in the sure conviction
that our foe would of his own accord come forth to give us battle, and
that we then would have the advantage of standing wholly on the
defensive until some happy turn of chance should so favor us that we
would risk nothing in making an assault.
It was a very fortunate thing for us that matters stood in this way; for
wellnigh the whole of the trained army of the Aztlanecas was with the
Priest Captain, and against this well-disciplined body of men our own
hastily assembled and imperfectly organized army would have made but a
poor showing had we met on equal terms. Even under the existing
circumstances, so favorable in many ways to our success, Tizoc and the
other military officers who were with us did not at all disguise their
anxiety as to what might be the outcome of the battle so soon to be
fought; and especially did they dread some well-planned stealthy
movement of the enemy, by which our camp might be suddenly set upon and
fairly carried before our own untrained forces could be rallied from the
bewilderment and confusion into which they would be thrown by the shock
of such surprise.
Rayburn, who had seen a good deal of Indian fighting in his time, fully
shared in this feeling of anxiety. "Indian fights, you see," he said,
"are not like any other kind of fights. The side that wins has got to do
it with a whoop and a hurrah. Indians haven't got any staying power in
them. They can't hold out against anybody who stands up against them
squarely, and won't be scared by a howling rush into running away.
That's the reason why our little bit of an army at home is strong enough
to police our whole Indian frontier. A single troop of our boys--if the
fighting's square, and they haven't been corralled in an ambush--can
stand off a whole tribe; and they can do it because they just get their
backs together and won't give in. What bothers me about the fight that
we're going to have is that the regulars are on the other side. Of
course, being Indians too, regulars like these don't amount to much; but
they are bound to be a long chalk better than this rowdy crowd of ours.
We've got a pretty fair chance to win, because we're in a strong
position, and because our people mean to wait until the other fellows
come at 'em; but I tell you what it is, if ever they manage to get
inside here, or if ever we go outside after them--that is, while they're
fresh and full of fight--it's bound to be all day with us. These miners,
and the rest of this Tlahuico outfit, will fight like wild-cats as long
as they're on top, but every bit of fight will go right out of them the
minute they find that they're beginning to get underneath. That's the
Indian way. I'm trying hard to believe that our crowd will whip the
other crowd; but I must say, Professor, that I'm not betting on it."
"Well, I'm bettin' on it, and bettin' on it high," said Young. "I don't
pretend t' know as much about this sort o' thing as Rayburn does; but I
do think I know a live devil when I see one--an' these miners are about
as lively an' about as devilly as anything that ever broke loose from
hell. They're just as full o' th' wickedest sort o' fight as they can
stick in their ugly skins, an' they're just sick for a chance t' let it
get out of 'em. All we've got t' do is t' worry th' other crowd for a
while by lettin' 'em monkey around tryin' t' bag us; an' then, when
they've been pretty well shot off, an' are gettin' tired, just make a
rush for 'em an' scoop 'em in. Regulars or no regulars, these miners 'll
go through 'em like a limited express; an' the' first thing th' Priest
Captain knows we'll have walloped him right smack out o' th' baggy
things he wears on his feet an' thinks are boots. That's th' size of it,
Rayburn. That's what's goin' t' happen right here--an' don't you forget
it! An' then, if there's any way out o' this d--n valley, we'll load up
with dollars an' pull out for home."
For my own part, I was not disposed to be either so doubtful as Rayburn
or so sanguine as Young. In what each of them said there was much truth,
and my inference from such of the facts in the case as were within my
knowledge and my comprehension was that the chances for and against our
success were very evenly divided. Had I listened only to the promptings
of my hopes, I should have entertained no doubt whatever touching the
certainty of our victory; for I was at that time so elated by the
knowledge that I had acquired, and that each day was increased by the
acquisition of new and most precious facts, whereby a flood of light was
let in upon what hitherto had been hopelessly dark places in Aztec
archæology, that I was disposed to believe as firmly as ever did the
first Napoleon in the assured ascendency of my lucky star. However, I
did not wholly permit my wits to be run away with by the joy begotten of
my truly wonderful discoveries; and I strove even to contemplate calmly
the possibility that I might myself be slain in the battle that was so
close upon us; and that thus the exceedingly valuable information which
I had acquired would be lost to the world, and to myself would be lost
the honorable fame due me for having gathered it. Yet I regret to
state--for until that time I had entertained unreservedly the belief
that I truly was a philosopher--my attempt at calm contemplation of this
dismal and far from improbable combination of evil circumstances had no
other effect upon me than to throw me into a most violent rage. It
seemed to me so stupidly unreasonable that some mere common brute of an
Indian, by the crude process of splitting my skull open, might deprive
me, and through me the scientific world, of the priceless knowledge that
with much effort I had stored within my brain.
But all thought of my own fortunes, and of this possible sudden cutting
of my life-strings, presently was thrust aside by the inroad of another
matter that was of far more serious moment to me, inasmuch as there was
involved in it a menace against the life of one of my companions; and,
indeed, this matter was one which startled our whole camp, for it was
nothing less than a formal offer on the part of the Priest Captain to
condone the rebellion, and to compromise with the rebels, on certain far
from exacting terms.
The envoy sent to treat with us came in a manner befitting his dignity
and the importance of his mission, having a considerable retinue with
him in his barge, and being himself a grave and dignified man well
advanced in years. Two of our guard-boats accompanied his barge across
the lake, and he alone was permitted to land in Huitzilan. Being led
before the Council, he delivered himself briefly of his message, and
added to it neither argument nor comment of his own. The Priest Captain,
he said, desiring to avoid the shedding of blood among brethren, was
willing to forgive the wrong already committed, and was willing even to
concede in part the demands made by the rebels, in consideration of the
acceptance by those now in arms against him of certain very easy terms.
For his part, he would yield in so far as to restore the custom of
permitting parents to buy back their own children, and so to save them
from being sacrificed or from becoming slaves; and he would withdraw
also his claim to the exercise of certain rights (which need not here be
specified) in civil matters, to which a counter-claim was set up by the
Council. In return for these concessions, he demanded that the army
raised by the rebels should be immediately disbanded; that order should
be restored in Huitzilan by returning the miners to their work, and the
Tlahuicos generally to their masters throughout the valley; and that the
arms which had been manufactured should be turned over to the keeper of
the arsenal in Culhuacan. The final demand made by the Priest Captain
related to ourselves; and the Council was given to understand that upon
its punctual and exact fulfilment the whole of the negotiation must
depend. Young and Rayburn and I, the envoy said, must be thrust out
through the Barred Pass, whence we came, and there left to shift for
ourselves; Fray Antonio must be without delay surrendered--that the
dreadful sin that he had committed by preaching vile doctrines,
subversive of the true faith, might be punished in so signal a manner
that the gods whom he had outraged would be appeased.
Both Fray Antonio and I were present in the Council chamber when the
envoy delivered his message; and when this final demand was
made--hearing which made me grow sick and faint, so keen was the pang of
sorrow that it caused me--I turned towards him quickly, expecting that
he also would feel the hurt of the blow which through him, because of my
great love for him, had stricken me so grievously. But so far from being
at all cast down by the knowledge thus rudely conveyed that a very cruel
death menaced him, there was upon his face a look of such joyful
elation, of such rejoicing triumph, that it seemed as though the very
greatest happiness that life could hold for him had been thrust suddenly
within his grasp.
Within the Council, and outside of it also, when the terms which the
envoy offered were spread abroad, there was at once aroused a very hot
antagonism between contending factions in regard to the wisdom of
placing trust in the Priest Captain's promises, and to the justice of
yielding to his demands. So far as the Council was concerned, its
members having no especial regard for our welfare now that we had served
their purpose, the slaying of Fray Antonio, and the expulsion from the
valley of the rest of us, were trifling matters which well enough might
be conceded if thereby peace might be secured. The matter of importance
that this body had to consider was how far the Priest Captain could be
trusted to fulfil promises made to rebels in arms, when these same
rebels voluntarily had submitted to disarmament and were at his mercy;
and on this essential point the whole debate that followed turned. The
faction that favored disarmament insisted that such yielding was not
surrender, inasmuch as the Priest Captain had conceded all that the
rebels had asked; while those of the faction that favored war rested
their case on the ground that the promises of concession were made only
to be broken, and that this sudden willingness on the part of the Priest
Captain to grant what he had heretofore so persistently refused was
proof that he recognized the hopelessness of his position, and so was
seeking to retain by craft the power that he no longer could hold by
force. These latter, therefore, urged that his false promises should not
be heeded; and that the matter at issue should be settled surely and
finally by carrying to a triumphant conclusion the war, for the waging
of which all needful preparations had been made.
The debate upon this matter continued throughout the whole day without
any conclusion being arrived at, and we listened to it--Fray Antonio and
I translating to the others--with a very earnest interest, inasmuch as
the outcome of it all might be the instant slaying of one of us, and for
the rest of us an imprisonment in wild fastnesses among bleak mountains
for what was like to be the whole remainder of our lives. When night
came, and the Council, being still unresolved, broke off its session
until the day following, we came back to our quarters and there talked
over the situation, and not cheerfully, among ourselves.
"Even if these fellows understood algebra," said Rayburn, "I don't see
how they could get an answer to the problem that they're trying to work.
All the _x_'s that ever were made are not enough to represent an unknown
quantity like the Priest Captain; and it simply is not in the conditions
of the case that they possibly can know what allowance to make for the
factor of error. For the last three hours, as far as I can make out,
they've just been talking in a circle, and going over and over the same
ground. The size of the business is that half of them believe the Priest
Captain is telling the truth, and the other half believe that he is
lying. This is a matter of conviction; it is not a thing that they can
argue about. As far as I can see, there is nothing to prevent them from
keeping on talking without getting anywhere for the next twenty years."
"Well, all I can say," said Young, "is that if they'll put me in th'
cab, an' let me run their train for 'em, I'll get it up this grade in no
time; an' what's more, I'll just take it down th' other side o' th'
divide a-kitin'! What's th' matter with th' Priest Captain, an' only
half of 'em have th' sense t' see 't, is that he's just solidly lyin'.
He's been lyin' to 'em from away back, I reckon; an' he's lyin' to 'em
now; an' he'll keep on lyin' to 'em right smack along till he gets t'
th' end of his run. If they're fools enough t' believe him they're bound
t' get left th' worst kind. They've got him in a hole now, an' he knows
it--an' that's more'n they do, t' judge from th' way they're goin' on.
I did have some respect for that Council. So far, they've managed things
first-rate. They've run in advance o' their schedule right along, an'
they've kep' up a rattlin' head o' steam with mighty d----n bad coal.
But if they really mean t' draw their fires, just when they ought t' put
on th' forced draught an' let her go for all she's worth, I must say I
haven't any more use for 'em. Seein' 'em shilly-shallyin' around like
they're doin' now, when they ought t' be takin' their coats off an'
sailin' in, just makes me sick!"
Fray Antonio--whose habit of quiet was such that he rarely sought to
take part in the talks that we had in English among ourselves--somewhat
surprised me by asking me to translate to him what Young and Rayburn had
been saying; and when he had heard it all he was silent for a while, and
evidently was engaged in earnest thought. At last, speaking very
gravely, he asked us if we greatly feared being thrust out from the
valley in case the Council decided to accept the Priest Captain's terms;
and without giving us a chance to answer, he bade us remember that we
had not at all explored the last valley that we had passed through
before we entered the cañon that ended at the Barred Pass, and that from
it there well might be some outlet through which we could return to the
civilized world; and even were we forced to end our days in it, he
continued, speaking quickly and urgently, a much worse fate might come
to us; for the valley was a bright and beautiful one, as we had seen,
and had in it an abundant supply of food. Would living there, he asked,
be any worse for us than living where we then were--where we were
equally shut in? And even supposing that the war ended in victory for
us, and that our allies gave us entire freedom of action, what more
could we do than end our days in the Valley of Aztlan, or else go back
to that other valley and search for an outlet thence whereby we could
get into an open way among the mountains, and so once more to our homes?
And then, still denying us opportunity to answer, he went on to speak of
the pain and misery and despairing sorrow that the threatened war would
bring; and then, more gently, of the duty that pressed upon us of
averting this calamity, that was also a crime, even though to do so we
must sacrifice hopes and wishes very dear to our hearts.
"What th' dickens is th' Padre drivin' at, anyway?" Young exclaimed; "I
don't ketch on at all."
"No more do I," said Rayburn. "It's a first-rate sermon that he's giving
us, but I don't see where he means the moral of it to fetch up."
For myself, so closely were Fray Antonio and I bound together by bonds
of sympathy, I saw but too plainly what he meant should be the outcome
of his discourse; and I was not surprised, therefore--though hearing
thus plainly expressed in words what I had been dreading, sent a dull,
cold pain into the very depths of my heart--when he unfolded to us the
whole of the plan that he had been forming within his mind. What he said
was said very simply, and with a loving sorrow for the pain that might
come to us through shaping our actions in accordance with his strong
desire; and this desire was: that, of our own free-will, we should
retire from the valley by the way that we came thither, and so leave the
Council free to accept unhesitatingly the Priest Captain's terms.
"And what of yourself?" I asked; for I felt within me a strong
conviction that for himself he had in view a very different fate.
He hesitated for a moment before answering me, and his color changed a
little; and then an unwonted ruddiness gave animation to his face, and a
light of glad and strong resolve shone in his eyes as he replied, in a
voice that was very low, and at the same time very clear and firm: "I
shall go to the Priest Captain, in Culhuacan!"
"And so go to your death," I said, speaking brokenly, for the pain that
his words caused me went through me like a knife-thrust.
"Say, rather," Fray Antonio answered, "that I go to win the life,
glorious and eternal, into which neither death nor sin nor sorrow
evermore can come!"
XXVIII.
THE SURRENDER OF A LIFE.
Knowing as I did Fray Antonio's resolute nature, and understanding far
more clearly than it was possible for the others to understand the
heroic impulses which stirred within him, I took no part in the attempt
that they then made to oppose the purpose which he had declared. But
when they somewhat shifted their position--perceiving how hopeless was
their effort to shake by argument his firm resolve--and sought to win
him to their way of thinking by consenting to leave the valley if only
he would accompany them, then I most earnestly joined my entreaties to
theirs. But no more by entreaty than by argument was Fray Antonio to be
moved.
And, in truth, there was a logical consistency in what he urged in
answer to us that, much though we might resent it, we yet were compelled
to respect. He had come with us, he said, for the single purpose of
preaching the saving grace of Christianity to heathen souls which
otherwise would perish utterly in their idolatry. And this was not a
matter wherein he had any right of election, but was a solemn duty that
the vows by which he was bound compelled him to fulfil. He was not free,
therefore, as we were free, to consider side issues relating to his
personal well-being or to mere expediency; his sole endeavor must be to
accomplish by the most efficient means the duty wherewith he was
charged. It was evident, he urged, that should there be war in the
valley the chance for the further spread of Christian doctrine would he
scant; for the seed that he had sown, and that already was well rooted
in many hearts, would die quickly and be utterly lost in the foul growth
of evil passions which would spring up rankly amid this bloody strife.
But if the war could be averted, not only would these people be spared
the misery that war must bring upon them, and the crime also of slaying
each other, but their hearts would remain open to the gentle doctrine
that he had taught; and his willingness--should such sacrifice be
necessary--to yield his life that peace might be preserved, would force
upon them strongly the conviction, tending thus to their own
strengthening, of his faithful trust in the creed which he avowed. And
it well might happen, he said, that such grace would be given him that
even within the very stronghold of the heathen faith he might win souls
to the purer faith which it was his glorious privilege to preach and
still remain unharmed; in proof of which possibility he cited the case
of the blessed St. Januarius, whom the lions refused to devour. But
whatever might be the outcome of thus yielding himself into the Priest
Captain's hands, his duty was so clear, he declared firmly, that no
evasion of it was possible. And what he purposed doing, he said,
finally, was but what countless of his brethren had done in the course
of the six centuries since the founding in Assisi of the Order to which
they and he belonged--and precisely was it what was done by the glorious
proto-martyr of Mexico, San Felipe de Jesus, who boldly carried the
Christian faith among the heathen, and so died for that faith upon the
cross in Japan.
Rayburn was far from willing to yield to this line of argument; yet he
understood it, as I did also, and perceived that it was the only logical
outcome of the only premises which Fray Antonio would recognize. Young,
on the other hand, did not in the least understand it, and Fray
Antonio's reasoning simply threw him into a rage.
"It's all d----n nonsense," he said, "for th' Padre t' talk about his
duty towards a set o' critters like th' Priest Captain's crowd. What's
th' life o' that whole outfit worth compared t' one life like his? He
might just as well sit down an' chop his own head off as go in among
those fellows; an' he knows it, too. I never heard o' th' man he's
talkin' about who didn't get eat up by th' lions--somebody in th' show
business, I s'pose--but if he thinks there'll he anything worth speakin'
of left of him two hours after he gets back into that city, he's makin'
a pretty d--n big mistake. Oh, I say, Professor, we've _got_ t' stop
this. Th' Padre's off his head, that's all there is to it; an' we've got
t' look after him till he braces up an' gets sensible again. I'll do
anything reasonable that he wants, but I'll be d----d if I'm goin' t'
stand by doin' nothin' while he cuts his own throat!"
Young was quite ready, I am sure, to resort to the radical measure of
clapping Fray Antonio into a strait-jacket; and had the opportunity
arisen for bringing their difference of opinion to a practical issue I
am confident that we should have witnessed an exceedingly curious
conflict, in which heroic self-devotion would have struggled with a
rough but very honest love. And that Fray Antonio anticipated such a
conflict was shown by his taking effective measures to render it
impossible. During the remainder of that day he steadfastly refused to
discuss the matter further; not harshly, but by shifting away into other
channels our earnest talk. Only at night, before we lay down to sleep,
of his own motion he turned once more to the matter; and when he briefly
had exhibited to us again the motives which urged him forward upon a
way so perilous, he begged that we would not think ill of his insisting
upon traversing our wishes, but that once more we would clasp hands with
him in sign of our forgiveness and continued love.
So tender was the mood that came upon us with his gentle words that none
of us well could answer him; and this he understood as in turn we took
his hand and strove to utter that which was in our hearts, and only
could say huskily a word or two, of which the meaning was conveyed for
the most part by the sorrow and the longing that were in our tones.
Young's natural instincts were wholly opposed to any display of the
softer emotions, and for shame of the weakness that in this case he
could not help but show, his face and neck flushed red, and he declared
that he had the toothache. And then, as a vent for his overwrought
feelings--of all things in the world--he fell to cursing the
Superintendent of the Old Colony Railroad: on the ground that but for
this functionary, who most unjustifiably had discharged him, he never
would have come to Mexico at all!
For my own part, I was well convinced that Fray Antonio meant then to
say good-bye to us; and for a long while, as I lay awake that night, my
thoughts went backward over the time that we had been companions
together, and so dwelt upon the faithfulness of his friendship, and upon
his gallant bearing in all times of peril, and upon the pure and perfect
holiness which characterized his every act and word. Into the future I
dared not let my thoughts wander, for I could foresee no outcome to the
purpose which he had planned so resolutely but a dreary sorrow that
would rest heavily upon me through all the remainder of my days. And at
last, worn out by my own grief, I fell into a troubled sleep.
The faint gray light of early morning shone dimly in the room as Rayburn
awakened me by shaking my arm; and the first words which he spoke to me
were, "The Padre is not here!"
As I roused myself fully, and sat up and looked into his face, I saw by
the look that he gave me how fully he shared the dread that was in my
heart. Young still was sleeping, and we waited to rouse him until we
should make sure that what we feared must be the truth really was true.
Together we went out quietly into the court-yard and so to the main
entrance of the building, where a guard was stationed. But this man was
asleep; and when I wakened him, and questioned him as to whether the
monk had gone forth, he could give me no answer. Therefore we went on to
the gate of the Citadel--which gate, being a vastly heavy grating,
raised and lowered by chains, was not usually closed even at night--in
the hope that there we might gain some certain knowledge. And here also
we found all of the half-dozen men on guard slumbering, saving only one
man, who seemed to have been aroused by the sound of our footsteps, and
who raised himself on one elbow and looked at us with a sleepy
curiosity.
[Illustration: IN THE GATE-WAY OF THE CITADEL]
Even the urgency of the quest that we were upon did not suffice to
distract our attention from the peril that we all were in because of the
slumbering of these sentries. "If this is a specimen of the way all the
watches are kept," Rayburn said, angrily, "we stand a pretty good chance
of being murdered in our beds. It all comes of trying to make soldiers
out of savages. These Tlahuicos will fight well enough, I never doubted
that, but to put such men on guard is simple idiocy. They have been
slaves all their lives, and they haven't the least notion in the world
of personal responsibility. It's a lucky thing that we have found out
their methods, for I shall give the Colonel a talking to about putting
on guard some of his own men who can be trusted. It's clear that these
fellows cannot tell us anything. We'd better keep on down to the
landing; if the Padre has gone"--there was a sudden break in Rayburn's
voice as he said these words--"it's pretty certain that he has gone by
water, and we may come across somebody down there who happened to be
awake and saw him start."
There were slight signs of wakefulness beginning to show themselves as
we went down towards the water-side; a few doors already were open; here
and there thin threads of smoke curled upward through the still air;
around a fountain a half-dozen women were clustered, drawing water in
great earthen pots, and chattering together softly in half-drowsy talk.
At the pier, however, we found some people who really were wide-awake:
fishermen just returned with a boat-load of fish that they had caught in
the lake. And these, when I questioned them, in a moment resolved all of
our troubled doubts into a sad certainty. Only an hour before, as they
lay out on the lake, a canoe had passed them paddled by a single
Indian, and in the canoe they had plainly recognized Fray Antonio. It
was impossible that they should be mistaken, they declared, for the
habit which the monk wore made him very plainly recognizable; and they
had observed him with a particular care, for they had been greatly
surprised by perceiving that the canoe was heading directly for "the
great city"--by which name all save the priests were accustomed to speak
of Culhuacan.
Neither Rayburn nor I spoke, as we walked back together through the town
to the Citadel. Our hearts were altogether too full for words. Even I,
who had been in part prepared for Fray Antonio's departure by the tenor
of his speech with us the night before, had not anticipated his going
from us so suddenly to what surely must be his death; and to Rayburn his
departure came with the startling force of a heavy and unexpected blow.
Young was awake when we returned, and was in much anxiety concerning us;
for our custom at all times was to hold closely together, and he knew
that something out of the common must have happened to make us break
through this very necessary rule; and his fears were further aroused
when he perceived the sad gravity of our faces, and that Fray Antonio
was not in our company. Yet, though thus prepared to learn that evil of
some sort had overtaken us, he was not at all prepared to learn how
great that evil was. When, therefore, we told him of what we had
discovered, which gave absolute assurance that Fray Antonio had carried
out his purpose of surrendering himself into the Priest Captain's hands,
Young stared at us for a moment in a dazed sort of way, as though by no
means grasping the meaning which our words conveyed. And then the whole
meaning of them seemed to come to him suddenly, and he burst forth into
such a raving volley of curses that it seemed as though he were fairly
maddened by his ungoverned rage.
I envied Young, as I am sure Rayburn did also, the relief that must come
to him with this rough but frank and natural expression of his bitter
grief. For ourselves, we stood sad and silent, yet with our hearts
almost breaking within us, as we thought how small was the chance that
ever in this world should we see the face of Fray Antonio again.
XXIX.
THE ASSAULT IN THE NIGHT.
Neither the Council, in its irresolute parleyings, nor Fray Antonio, in
his resolute action, had at all considered certain factors which they
themselves had interjected into the problem that they then were dealing
with from such widely different stand-points and in such widely
different ways. The Council, at a stroke, had transformed the Tlahuicos
into soldiers, and had given the promise that in reward for their
faithfulness and valor these slaves thenceforward should be freemen.
Fray Antonio had preached to all those assembled at Huitzilan a creed
that had taken strong hold upon many hearts, and that especially had
won the hearts of those of the long-oppressed servile class--to whom its
doctrine of equality seemed to hold out an absolute assurance that their
life of slavery was at an end.
When, therefore, the terms which the Priest Captain offered were spread
abroad through the town, and through the camp close beside the town in
which the army lay--being there in readiness instantly to occupy the
Citadel should the enemy appear--a very lively anger was aroused because
such terms should even be listened to. For what the Priest Captain
demanded was that the apostle of the new religion should be relinquished
to him to be slain as a sacrifice to the Aztec gods, and that once more
the Tlahuicos should be thrust back into slavery; while what he
conceded--in that it affected only the higher classes--made the lot of
the Tlahuicos but the more unjustly cruel and hard to bear.
And those who resented the delay on the part of the Council in sending
back the Priest Captain's envoy with a sharp denial, presently went on
from hot words to violent deeds; being directly led from mutinous talk
to mutinous action by the knowledge that the Council had so far accepted
the offered terms as to send Fray Antonio to the great city to be
slain--for not one among them could be led for a moment to believe, so
impossible from their stand-point did such an act appear, that the monk
truly had gone thither of his own free-will.
Practically, the whole army was involved in the movement that then took
place; for even its officers, while not of the servile class, dreaded
the punishment that their revolt might bring upon them, and so
preferred to take the chances of the war rather than to yield themselves
to be dealt with as the Priest Captain might dispose. Therefore it was,
on the day that Fray Antonio departed from us, that all the soldiers
together marched in from their camp and massed themselves compactly
about the Council Chamber within the Citadel, and then with loud cries
demanded that the envoy should be sent back to the great city with an
absolute refusal of the offered terms. Thus was there created a
rebellion within a rebellion; and one that the Council was powerless to
put down, for the reason that practically the whole of the force which
it had created to serve against the enemy was now risen against its own
authority with a most masterful strength.
In the case that thus was presented there was no opportunity to
temporize. The fierce, wild creatures of whom soldiers suddenly had been
made stood there before the Council Chamber, shouting and waving their
spears angrily and clashing together their arms. And so they continued,
without one moment of quiet, until their will was obeyed. Through the
savage and tumultuous throng the envoy was led forth--his looks showing
plainly his very natural expectation that his life would be let out of
him amid that ferocious company--and so down to the water-side; and
thence was sent back again to Culhuacan with the firm assurance--which
message of defiance the soldiers themselves dictated--that the terms
offered by the Priest Captain would be accepted only when all the
Tlahuicos then risen together in arms against him had been slain!
"Bully for th' Tlahuicos!" cried Young, as I translated to him these
ringing words. "Just tell 'em, Professor, that I've volunteered for
three years or th' war, an' that they can count on me t' keep up a full
head o' steam as long as there's any fightin' t' be done. Accordin' t'
my notions, now that th' Padre's over there in th' city--t' say nothin'
o' what we owe 'em on Pablo's account--th' row can't begin one minute
too soon. These Tlahuicos are th' boys for me! Didn't I tell you that
nobody could stop 'em when they once got fairly started? They're a tough
lot; but they're just everlastin' rustlers--an' their style suits me
right now all th' way down t' th' ground floor!"
The sharp excitement attendant upon this vigorous action gave place, as
the day wore on, to a dull heavy pain as our thoughts dwelt upon the
fate that Fray Antonio had gone forth to meet, and upon our present
powerlessness to defend him in any way against it. Although the envoy
had been sent back, and war was now resolutely determined upon, the
situation remained unchanged in so far as concerned the necessity
of our waiting for the Priest Captain to take the initiative. To
attack that great walled city was so hopeless a task that even the
Tlahuicos--flushed though they were by their victory over the
Council--did not venture to propose it; for they knew, as we all did,
that our only chance of carrying the enemy's stronghold lay in first
defeating its garrison in a battle in the open field. Yet this dull
inaction of waiting was a scarce of grave danger to us, in that it
tended to wear out the spirits of our men and to make them still more
careless of their guard. What Rayburn and I had seen that morning had
shown how little trust could be placed in them, in so far as the
soldierly attribute of watchfulness was concerned; and Tizoc, with whom
we conferred in regard to this important matter, had little to say that
we found comforting. Being himself a thorough soldier, he perceived the
danger to which the unsoldierly lack of vigilance on the part of the
Tlahuicos exposed our camp; but the situation was such that he was
powerless to take effective measures for our protection. The few regular
troops in our little army were not enough to do sentry duty everywhere,
and the best that could be done would be to dispose them at the points
most open to attack--"And then trust to luck," Rayburn put in, rather
bitterly, "that the enemy will be polite enough to try to surprise only
the part of the camp where the sentries are awake!"
Partly that we might see for ourselves how our pickets were disposed,
but more that by action of any sort we might divert our thoughts from
the sorrow that was gnawing at our hearts, we walked out together in the
late afternoon to the rocky heights of the promontory that on the
western side of the town extended far into the lake. From a military
stand-point this position was of great importance to us, inasmuch as
bowmen or slingmen gaining access to it could command a considerable
part of the town, and even could annoy very seriously the garrison of
the Citadel; and it also was of value to us as a place of lookout whence
an attacking party coming by way of the lake from the city could be
perceived while yet it was a long way off.
We were surprised, therefore, when we had come well out upon the
promontory, that no sentinel challenged us; but our surprise vanished a
moment or two later as we perceived one of our men curled up comfortably
against a sunny rook and apparently sound asleep. However, as we got
close to the man it was clear to us that his sleep was one that he never
would waken from, for a pool of blood stained the rock beside him, and
an arrow was shot fairly through his heart. We made but a short stop
beside this fellow--who plainly had been shot in his sleep, and so
deserved the fate that had overtaken him--and then went forward
anxiously that we might see how the other sentinels stationed hereabouts
had fared. The result of our quest was as bad as it could be; for in one
place or another among the rocks we found all five of the men who had
been posted upon the promontory, and all of them were dead. Three more
of them certainly had been shot while asleep or wholly off their guard,
as was shown by the easy attitudes in which we found them sitting or
lying among the rocks. The fifth had not been instantly killed; as we
inferred from finding a broken arrow sticking in his left arm, and some
signs of a struggle about where he lay, and a great split in his skull,
as from a sword stroke, that finally had let the life out of him. It
struck us as strange that this man had not aroused the camp with his
shouts; but his post was at the extreme end of the promontory, so that
he must have called very loudly in order to be heard; and it was
possible that in the suddenness of his danger he never thought to call
at all. However, the important matter, so far as we were concerned, was
that these five sentinels had been slain close beside the town and in
broad daylight, and that but for the chance of our coming out upon the
promontory the most important of our outposts would have remained
unguarded until the night relief should have come on. It was Rayburn's
theory that the plan of the enemy was to place his own men on the vacant
posts--trusting to the reasonable certainty that in the dusk of evening
one naked Indian would look much like another--and so despatch the
relief, one by one, as the guard was changed.
Of those of the enemy who had accomplished this piece of work so
skilfully we could see no sign--unless it were a boat that we dimly saw
a long way off on the lake, and that presently wholly disappeared in a
bank of haze; and despite the hot sunshine basking upon us a chill went
through me at thought of the stealthy daring and truly devilish cunning
of the men who thus could do their evil work in the full light of day,
and close to the encampment of an army, and yet could get safely away
without leaving a trace of their presence save the dead bodies of their
foes.
Having made sure by carefully searching among the rocks throughout the
length of the promontory that none of the enemy was hidden there, we
hastened back to the town to tell what we had come upon, and to provide
for mounting fresh sentinels in the place of those who had been relieved
by death. We had expected that the news which we brought would stir up a
great commotion; and we were not a little troubled, therefore, knowing
how serious the matter was in its exhibition of the carelessness of our
guards, by finding that only Tizoc and a few other tried soldiers were
more than lightly discomposed by what we had to tell. The general
feeling seemed to be--inasmuch as our lucky discovery had dispelled the
danger--that there was no need to worry about a calamity which had not
occurred; and what after all was the most essential consideration--the
constant danger that threatened us by reason of the criminal laxity of
the watch maintained by our pickets--practically was lost sight of.
Apparently neither the Council nor the higher officers of the army had
the power to remedy this dangerous condition of affairs. At no time had
any very strong authority been exercised over the Tlahuicos--for all the
orders which until now had been given to them had been directed only
towards urging them along a way that they were glad enough to follow of
their own accord--and since their assertion of their will that morning,
what little control had restrained their waywardness seemed to have been
wholly lost.
However, as there was a chance in it of fighting, and as fighting was
what they longed for earnestly, our unruly soldiers were willing enough
that a strong detachment should be placed in ambush on the promontory,
to the end that the force which the enemy probably would land there that
night might be summarily dealt with. And the better to carry out our
plan of a counter-surprise the dead sentinels were left where we found
them. Tizoc was given the command of the ambushed force, and he
willingly granted our request that we might accompany him; which
request was prompted by the desire that we fully shared with the
Tlahuicos to get at close quarters with the enemy, and also by the
conviction that in Tizoc's company--though in his company we were like
to have hot fighting and plenty of it--we would have better chances of
safety than anywhere else in all our camp.
For this expedition we put on for the first time our armor of quilted
cotton cloth; and the look of these garments certainly did justify
Young's comments upon them. "It's a pity we can't get photographed now,"
he said, "so's t' send our likenesses in this rig home t' our folks.
You'd just jolt the Cap Cod folks, Rayburn, with that pair o' telegraph
poles you call your legs stickin' out from under th' tails o' that thing
that looks like a cross between a badly made frock-coat and an
undersized night-shirt. And I guess your college boys 'd be jolted, too,
Professor, if they could get a squint at you. And I s'pose that if some
o' th' hands on th' Old Colony happened t' ketch up with me dressed this
way they'd think I'd gone crazy. But I haven't got anything t' say
against these little night-shirts except about their looks. When you get
right down t' th' hard-pan with 'em, they're a first-rate thing."
For three American citizens, belonging to the nineteenth century, we
certainly presented a strange appearance, and appeared also in very
strange company, as we marched out from the town late that afternoon
with Tizoc and his men. Each of us carried half a dozen darts, and
strapped around our waists, outside our cotton-cloth armor, we each wore
a maccahuitl--the heavy sword with a jagged double edge that we knew
from experience was an excellent weapon when wielded by a strong hand.
Indeed, Young and I carried the darts rather to satisfy Tizoc than
because we expected to make any very effective use of them, and all of
our reliance both for assault and defence was upon what we could do with
our swords at close quarters. Rayburn, however, had been practising
dart-throwing very diligently, and as he naturally was an
extraordinarily dextrous man he had made rapid progress in this savage
art. The soldiers in our company, naked creatures, lithe and sinewy,
were armed for the most part with spears and slings; and the officers
wore each a sword and carried each a handful of darts. As we all stepped
out briskly together I could not but think how amazed would be the
President of the University of Michigan, and my fellow-members of the
Faculty of that institution of learning, should they happen to encounter
me in that barbarous company, and arrayed in that most barbarous garb!
[Illustration: THE LAST RALLY]
It was a little before sunset when we reached the place that Tizoc had
selected for our ambush upon the promontory; and an hour later, just as
the shadows of evening were beginning to fall, one of our lookout men
reported that a large boat--of which the oars must be muffled, for no
sound came from it--was pulling around a point just beyond where we lay.
There was a little stir among our men when this news was received, and a
shifting and arranging of weapons, so that all might be in readiness
when the moment for opening the ambush came; but we had a picked force
with us, each man of which fully understood how necessary was silence
to the success of our plans, and the quick thrill of movement was so
guarded that it scarcely ruffled the deep stillness of the night.
But the moments lengthened out into minutes, and the minutes slowly
slipped by until a full hour had passed, and the thick darkness of
tropical night was upon us, and still there was no sign of a foe. Tizoc
grew uneasy, for it was evident that we were in error in our conception
of the enemy's plan. Had he intend-to mount his own men as sentinels in
place of our men whom he had slain, and then get save possession of the
promontory by killing the relief as it came on, we should have been long
since engaged with him; but here the night was wearing on, and,
excepting only the boat that our scouts had seen, there had been nothing
to show that the attack which we had expected so confidently was
anything more than a creation of our own fears. Yet our only course was
to remain where we were until morning; for some accident might have
delayed the attack, and the necessity of holding the promontory was so
urgent that we could not take the risk of withdrawing our force.
It was weary work sitting there in the darkness, after all the weariness
of so exciting a day, and as the hours dragged on I found myself now and
then sinking into a doze, for which I reproached myself; yet also
excused myself by the reflection that I did not at all profess to have
either the training or the instincts of a soldier, but had been brought
up, as a man of peace and as a scholar, in accordance with the sound
principle that night rationally is the time set apart for sleep. It was
from a most agreeable nap--in which I was dreaming pleasantly of my old
life in Ann Arbor--that I was roused suddenly by Rayburn's quick grip
upon my shoulder, and by his sharp whisper, "What's that?"
In an instant I was thoroughly awake, and as I bent forward and listened
intently I heard very distinctly a faint cry of alarm, that seemed to
come from a long way off. Tizoc, I perceived--for he had risen to his
feet--also was most eagerly listening; and I heard a slight sound of
movement and of arms clinking as our men roused themselves, showing that
they also had heard that warning cry.
But in a moment there was no need to strain our ears to catch the sounds
which came to us. The cry that a single throat had uttered was taken up
by a thousand; and so grew into a dull, distant roar, that pierced the
black and sullen stillness of the night. And with this came also the
higher notes of savage yells, and then we heard the clash of arms--which
evidence that fighting was going on, no less than the direction whence,
as we now perceived clearly, the sounds came, assured us that while we
had maintained our watchful guard on the promontory the enemy had
surprised our camp.
Rayburn sprang up with a growl like that of a savage beast. "By G----d!"
he cried, "they meant us to do just what we've done, and we've walked
into their trap like so many d----n fools!"
XXX.
THE FALL OF THE CITADEL.
Tizoc, I was glad to see, had his men well under his command, as was
shown by the orderly manner in which they waited, despite their eager
impatience to be off, until he gave the command to march. And hard
marching we found it, as we floundered about that rough, rocky place,
tripping and stumbling, and now and then hearing a crash in the darkness
as one of our men went down. But, somehow or other, we certainly managed
to get over the ground very rapidly; and all the while the sounds of the
fight that was raging hotly struck with a constantly increasing
clearness upon our ears.
The whole width of the town lay between our camp and the foot of the
rugged path that led down from the promontory; but when we were fairly
in the streets, and no longer had rough rocks to stumble over in the
darkness, we went forward at a very slashing pace. And we were further
helped now by the fact that day was breaking, so that we could see
clearly where we were going; and we had also within us that feeling of
cheer and encouragement that ever is given to man by the return of the
sun. In but a few minutes more, in that tropical region, a flood of
daylight would be about us; and Tizoc's hope was that when the horror of
darkness, ever appalling to barbarians, should be lifted, and when our
coming should afford a firm centre to rally around, our army might
regain the courage and steadiness which it had lost in the terror and
bewilderment of a night surprise.
But he quickly found that this hope was doomed to disappointment. Only a
little beyond the gate of the Citadel we came upon a flying body of
Tlahuicos--though no pursuers were in sight beyond them--and these were
so completely demoralized that they took our company for a detachment of
the enemy, and with wild cries fled away from us down a side street and
so disappeared. "What do you think of your friends now?" Rayburn asked
Young, grimly. But Young's only answer was to curse the vanished
Tlahuicos for cowards.
A moment later the whole street in front of us was filled with a howling
mob of our men, and these came surging towards us with the evident
intention of seeking safety in the Citadel. Tizoc saw at a glance the
hopelessness of trying to rally a rout like this until the terrified
creatures, fleeing like sheep from a pack of wolves, had been given rest
for a while in some safe place where their courage might return to them.
Being once within the Citadel they would be for a time wholly out of
danger; for even should the enemy try to set scaling-ladders in place,
and so break in upon us there, it would be an easy matter for a few
determined men to hold the walls until some sort of order had been
restored among our broken forces. Tizoc therefore promptly wheeled our
little force aside into an open space, and so made a way for the
struggling crowd to sweep past us. We noted, as the stream of
terror-stricken men flowed by, that their officers were not with them;
from which Tizoc drew the hopeful augury that the officers, being all
trained soldiers, had drawn together into a rear-guard that sought to
cover this wild retreat. And presently we found that Tizoc was right in
his inference, for soon the crowd began very perceptibly to grow
thinner, and the sound of loud cries and the rattle and clashing of arms
rang out above the tumult, and then there came around a turn in the
street, a little beyond where we had halted, a compact body of men who
were falling back slowly, and who were laying about them most valiantly
with their swords. Our party gave a yell, by way of putting fresh heart
into these gallant fellows, and Tizoc quickly disposed our company in
such a manner that the retreating force fell back through our midst; and
then we promptly closed in, and so took the fighting to ourselves.
I cannot tell very clearly how our retreat to the Citadel was managed,
nor even of my own part in it; for fighting is but rough, wild work,
which defies all attempts at scientific accuracy in describing it--and
for the reason, I fancy, that it engenders a wholly unscientific frame
of mind. Reduced to its lowest terms, fighting is mere barbarity; a most
illogical method of settling some disputed question by brute force
instead of by the refined reasoning processes of the intelligent human
mind; and by the anger that it inevitably begets, the habit of accurate
observation, out of which alone can come accurate description, is
hopelessly confused. Therefore I can say only that foot by foot we
yielded the ground to the enemy that pressed upon us; that wild shouts
rang out--in which I myself joined, though why I should have shouted I
am sure I do not know--together with the sharp rattle of clashing
swords; and that through the roar of this outburst of fierce sounds
there ran an undertone of groans and sobs from the poor wretches who had
fallen wounded to the ground. The one thing that I remember clearly is a
set-to with swords that I had with a big fellow, just as we had come
close to the Citadel, that ended in a way (that would have surprised him
mightily had he lived long enough to comprehend it) by my finishing him
by means of a stop-thrust followed by a beautiful draw-cut that was a
famous stroke with my old sabre-master at Leipsic. And I well remember
thinking, at the moment that I made this stroke--and so saved my life by
it, for the fellow was pressing me very closely--how happy it would have
made the old Rittmeister could he have seen me deliver it.
As we made a rush for the gate of the Citadel, that we might get inside
this place of safety and drop the grating before the enemy could follow
us, we were surprised by finding many of our own men lying dead about
the entrance; and what was far worse for us, we found that unskilled
hands had been at work with the machinery whereby the gate was lowered
and by their bungling had managed to start it downward in such a way
that it had jammed in the grooves. What actually had happened there, as
we knew afterwards, was that the first of the cowardly wretches who had
entered the Citadel had tried to drop the gate in the faces of their
companions and so secure their own safety; whence a fight among
themselves had sprung up, in course of which many of them very
deservedly were slain, and, most unhappily for us, their frantic efforts
to lower the gate had resulted in thus disabling it.
We had a moment of breathing space before the enemy came up with us, and
in this time Rayburn and Young and I had a grip of each other's hands,
in which, without any words over it, we said good-bye to each other; for
we neither of us for one moment doubted that our last hour had come.
Tizoc stood a little distance from us, as steady and as gallant in his
bearing as ever I saw a man; but that he also counted surely upon dying
there was shown by the glance of grave friendliness that he gave us, and
by his making the gesture that among his people is significant of
farewell. Then we ranged ourselves across the gate-way, holding our
swords in hand firmly, and Rayburn, who had caught up a javelin, stood
with it poised above his shoulder in readiness to discharge it as the
enemy came on. The sight of his splendid figure towering defiantly in
that heroic attitude set my mind to running upon the Homeric legend of
the glorious battling of the Greeks before the gates of Troy, and of
Hector uplifting the rock; and I was very angry with Young, whose
disposition to seize upon the whimsical side of everything was the most
irrepressible that ever I came across, when he exclaimed: "I'll bet you
five dollars, Rayburn, that when you throw that clothes-prop you don't
hit th' man you fire at!"
But Rayburn did hit his man, straight in the heart too, a moment later,
as the enemy with a wild yell charged us; and then, with his back set
well against the wall, he fell to work most gallantly with his sword.
From the very beginning of it we knew that our fighting was utterly
hopeless; for all of our company together did not number fifty men, and
we were confronting there a whole army. Up the street, as far as we
could see, the troops of the enemy were solidly massed; and for every
man whom we struck down twenty were ready to spring forward, fresh and
vigorous, to exhaust still further the strength that rapidly was leaving
us. That we fought on was due not to our valor but to our desperation;
and also--at least such was my own feeling--to a swelling rage that made
us long to kill as many as possible of these savages before we ourselves
died beneath their blows. Death, we knew, was the best thing that could
happen to us; for it would save us from the worse fate, that surely
would come to us should we be captured, of being turned over to the
priests, that they might torture us before their heathen altars, and in
the end tear our still quivering hearts out. And that the wish of our
enemies--according to the Aztec custom--was rather to capture us than to
kill us was shown by the way in which they fought; for all their effort
was to disable us, and so to take us alive; nor did they seem to have
any great care, if only this purpose could be accomplished, how many of
themselves were slain.
Sometimes in my dreams the wild commotion of that most desperate combat
comes back to me. I see again before me the crowd of half-naked men,
curving in a semicircle measured by the length of my sword, their faces
distorted by the passionate anger that stirred their souls; and I see
one fierce face after another lose out of it the look of life, yet not
the look of hate, as my sword crunches into the vitals of the body to
which it belongs; and I hear the wild din around me, and the yells of
rage and of pain, and my feet tread in slippery pools of blood, and my
body aches with weariness, and sharp thrills of agony dart through the
strained muscles of my right arm--yet still I fight on, and on. And,
truly, all this seems more real to me now in my sleep than it did to me
then in its reality; for a dull weight of most desolate hopelessness
settled down upon me as I fought out to the end that most hopeless
battle--so that my spirit shared in the numbness of my body, and I cut
and parried and gave men their death-blows with the stolid energy of a
mere death-dealing machine.
It had been from the first no more than a question of minutes how long
this unequal fight would last; and when I heard a great yell from the
enemy, and perceived a flood of soldiers swirling inward through the
gate-way just beyond the fellows whom I was dealing with, I knew that
Tizoc's men had been beaten down or slain, and that the end was very
near at hand. As I glanced across the shoulders of the man whom I just
then put forever on the list of the non-combatants, I saw what seemed to
be an eddy in the midst of the crowd that was rushing into the Citadel;
and in the thick of the tightly knotted group that thus choked the
narrow way I saw Tizoc still laying about him with his sword. He was a
very ghastly object, for a cut on his head had loosened a piece of his
scalp, that hung down over his forehead and waved and trembled there
like a draggled plume; his face was bathed in blood from this horrid
wound, and his armor of cotton cloth was soaked with the blood that had
run down upon it from the cut in his head, and also from a wound in his
neck. In the moment that I had free sight of him he made as fine a
sword-stroke as ever I saw, wherewith he fairly severed from its body
the head of one of his assailants; and at the very same instant, while
that head still was spinning in the air, a man directly behind him
forced back the pressing crowd by main strength and so gained a free
space in which to swing his sword. I shouted to Tizoc to warn him of the
danger, and he half turned to ward against it; but before he could turn
wholly around the blow had fallen, splitting his whole head open from
the crown to the very chin. And in the midst of the fierce yell of
triumph that went up as this cowardly stroke was delivered there passed
from earth the soul of as brave and as true a man as earth has ever
known.
A dizziness came over me as I saw Tizoc fall, and saw in the same moment
the wild rush forward of the enemy over his dead body into the Citadel;
and so I suppose that what with this dizziness and my great weariness I
must have dropped my guard. I faintly remember hearing a shout of
warning from Young, who was close beside me, which shout mingled with
the shrieks of those inside the Citadel whom the enemy everywhere were
cutting down, and the great roar of victory that went up from all the
army, both within and without the Citadel, rising tempestuously in
mighty waves of sound: and then a crash like that of a thunder-bolt
burst directly upon my head, and a sickening pain shot through me, and I
seemed to be falling through untold depths into vast gloomy chasms (so
that I thought I was dropping once more into the hollow darkness of the
cañon), and there was a very dreadful surging and roaring and ringing in
my ears; and then all this horror of evil sounds grew fainter, and I
felt myself slipping quickly into the awful stillness and blackness that
I surely thought must be the entrance-way to death. And with this
thought a numb sort of gladness came over me, for in death there was
promise of restfulness and peace.
XXXI.
DEFEAT.
After all, the life that I thought was lost, and had but little sorrow
for the losing of it, slowly came back to me again. For a good while
before I recovered consciousness fully, I understood a little of what
was going on around me by sounds which, no doubt, were loud and ringing,
yet which seemed to me to come faintly from a long way off. They plainly
were the sounds of fighting--of weapons rattling together, of shouts and
yells and death-cries--but I did not associate them with our present
battling, but thought that we still were in the cañon, and were still
fighting those wild Indians by whom poor Dennis was slain. And I knew
that I had been hurt badly; for in my head was a throbbing pain so keen
that it seemed like to split my skull open, and my stomach was stirred
by most distressing qualms, and my weakness was such that I could not
ease the sore muscles of my body by moving by so much as a
hair's-breadth from the cramped position in which I lay.
It seemed to me a vastly long while that I remained in this dreary
condition of half-consciousness, with no certain knowledge of anything
save the pain that I suffered; and then I felt some one touch me, and a
hand laid upon my heart; and this touch so far roused me that I heaved a
long sigh and slowly opened my eyes. For a moment I did not know the
face that I saw bending over me; nor was this wonderful, for in place of
its usual ruddiness was a death-like pallor, that was the more marked by
contrast with the blood that trickled down over it from a great gash
across the brow whereby the bone was laid bare. But there was no
mistaking the voice that called out: "He's alive, Rayburn!" and added,
"I don't see what right he's got t' be alive, either, after a crack like
that. I guess studyin' antiquities must everlastin'ly harden an' thicken
a man's skull!"
"Studying engineering doesn't harden a man's leg, anyway," I heard
Rayburn answer. "That cut pretty near took mine off. But now that we've
stopped the bleeding I guess I'm all right. I think I can work over to
you on my hands and knees and help you with the Professor. Now that I
know he's alive I seem to be a lot more alive myself."
"Just you stay where you are," Young called back, sharply. "If you move
you'll start that bandage an' I'll have t' tie you up all over again.
I'll attend t' th' Professor." And then Young bent over me, and, with a
tenderness that I never would have thought his rough hands capable of,
set himself to bandaging my wounded head. But the best thing that he did
for me was to give me a draught of water from a gourd that had been
slung about the neck of one of the soldiers lying dead there; which
draught, with the comfort that the cool wet bandage about my head gave
me, brought back to me so much of my strength that I was able presently
to sit up and look around.
Truly, a more ghastly sight than that which my eyes then rested upon I
never saw. The gate-way of the Citadel was a very shambles. Piles of
dead men lay all around me; and the prodigious number of the enemy lying
slain there testified with a mute eloquence to the desperate fashion in
which our handful of men had fought. Over the rough pavement, down the
slope towards the lake, there flowed a stream of bright red blood that
in places shone a brilliant vermilion where it was touched by the
glintings of the sun. Among the dead I did not see Tizoc's body, and for
this I was glad. Half a dozen of the enemy stood by us as a guard; but
these suffered us to minister to each other, evidently feeling that no
great amount of caution was necessary in dealing with three badly
wounded men. Indeed, these guards, in their way, manifested a kindly
feeling for us; for when they perceived that our gourd of water was
empty one of them picked up another full gourd from amid the dead and
handed it to us. From inside the Citadel there still came a tumult of
fierce sounds which gave proof that though the battle--if it could be
called a battle--was ended the work of killing still was going on; but
these sounds sensibly diminished while we lay there waiting to know what
fate would come to us, and we concluded, therefore, that there remained
no more rebels to be slain.
Rayburn was seated upon the ground at no great distance from me, his
back propped against the wall. As he saw that I was looking towards him,
and had again my wits about me, he greeted me with a very melancholy
smile. "It's been a pretty cold day for us, Professor," he said, "and
there's no great comfort in knowing that it's partly our own fault that
these fellows have laid us out. I didn't give them credit for such good
tactics; and even with the bad watch that we kept I don't see how they
managed to get their men round on the other side of our camp. Well, it
must please them to know how straight we walked into the trap that they
set for us, like the pack of fools that we were."
"You won't ketch me joinin' in any more Indian revolutions, anyway,"
Young put in. "I did think I could bet on those Tlahuicos, an' they've
just gone back on us th' worst kind. Do you feel strong enough,
Professor, to tie th' ends o' this rag?" He had been binding up the cut
in his forehead, and now he got down on his hands and knees in front of
me, and bent his head down within easy reach of my hands; and my
strength had so far returned to me that without being very tired after
it I was able to make the ends of the bandage fast. The blow on his head
had glanced from the skull, luckily; but it had been heavy enough to
stun him for some minutes after he received it--and his falling as
though dead had been the means, no doubt, of saving his life, even as in
the same manner my life had been saved. Rayburn's wound was a worse one
than either Young's or mine, for a great gash in his thigh had wellnigh
cut his leg off, and until, with Young's help, he had improvised a
tourniquet, from a bowstring and a broken fragment of a javelin, he had
been in great danger of bleeding to death.
For more than an hour we were suffered to lie in the gate-way; while the
work went on of slaying the wretched Tlahuicos, and then of marshalling
the more important personages who had been reserved alive as prisoners,
and, finally, of restoring order in the victorious ranks. At the end of
this time an officer with a squad of men came to where we were lying,
and roughly ordered us to rise, to the end that we also might be placed
among the prisoners. Young and I had so far recovered our strength that
we managed to scramble on our feet with no great difficulty; though in
my case this exertion, which made the blood flow more briskly in my
veins, suddenly increased so greatly the pain in my head as to bring
upon me for a little while a dizziness that compelled me to lean against
the wall for support. In Rayburn's case standing was quite out of the
question; and I shortly told the officer in what manner he was wounded,
and that to make him rise and walk assuredly would start the bandage on
his leg, and so lead to his quickly bleeding to death. Thereupon the
officer gave an order to some of his men to fetch a stretcher such as
their own wounded were carried in; yet at the same time he said to me:
"This companion of yours is a brave man; and but for my orders, I would
loosen the bandage with my own hands, and so let him die without further
pain;" which speech, notwithstanding the obviously kind intention of it,
I did not translate to Rayburn at that time.
While we waited for the stretcher to be brought, the soldiers fastened
about Young's neck and about mine heavy wooden collars, which set well
out over our shoulders and were not unlike great ruffs. I confess that
for my own part my professional interest in this curious piece of gear
entirely overcame my repugnance to wearing it, for I instantly
recognized it as the cuauh-cozatl, with which, as the ancient records
tell us, the Aztecs were accustomed to secure their prisoners of war.
But Young, who could not be expected to share in my delight at seeing
actually alive, and ourselves made party to it, a custom that was
supposed to have been extinguished to more than three centuries, grew
exceedingly indignant at having thus placed about his neck what he
coarsely described as "an overgrown d----n goose-yoke." Nor was I at all
successful in my attempt to soothe him by telling him that the
discomfort to which we were subjected was a very trifling matter in
comparison with the gain to the science of archeology that flowed from
this positive identification of an exceedingly interesting historical
fact.
"Oh, come off, Professor," he growled. "What th' d----l do I care for
historical facts, or for historical lies either?--an' they're all about
th' same thing. What I want t' do is t' punch th' head o' th' fellow who
put this thing on me, an' I can't. They'll be hangin' me up by my heels
an' stickin' a corn-cob in my mouth next, I s'pose, an' makin' a regular
stuck-pig out o' me; an' then likely enough you'll try t' make me
believe that _that_ proves something or other that nobody but you thinks
ever happened, an' so want me t' feel pleased about it. Antiquities be
d----d! I've had as much of' em as I want, an' more too!"
While the collars were being placed about our necks, and while Rayburn
was being lifted upon the stretcher which the soldiers had brought, we
heard from within the Citadel the sound of drums tapping, and then the
measured tread of soldiers marching; and as we looked through the
gate-way we saw that the troops had been formed in regular order and
were moving towards us. At the head of the column were the
prisoners--numbering three or four hundred, and all wearing wooden
collars about their necks--covered on both flanks by a strong line of
guards. They were ranged in order of their dignity, the unlucky members
of the Council coming first, and after them the other officers of that
short-lived government; then the military officers, and in the rear a
few private soldiers. The fact that no Tlahuicos were among the
prisoners led me to conclude that such of these as had not been slain
had been held under guard until they might be returned to their owners
or set again to toiling hopelessly in the mine.
The importance that in the estimation of our captors attached to
ourselves was shown by their placing us at the very head of the column,
in advance even of the members of the Council; and this was a compliment
that we willingly enough would have declined, for such honorable
consideration, according to the customs of this people, meant surely
that we were reserved for a very exemplary fate. But we were in no
position to raise objections of any sort just then, and we therefore
fell into the place assigned to us and tried as well as we could to show
a bold front as we went downward towards the lake.
Only a few terrified women and children, who fled away as we advanced,
were in sight as we passed through the streets of the town; and from
many of the hovels came the moans of poor wounded wretches who had
crawled to their miserable homes to die in them; and from others came
the lamentations of women over their dead; and in nooks and corners,
whither with their last strength they had dragged themselves, we saw men
lying dead in pools of their own blood. But down by the water-side there
were live men in plenty, soldiers and oarsmen, and the pier was crowded
with them; while out beyond the pier the whole bay was swarming with
the boats in which the enemy's forces had stolen down upon us in the
darkness from Culhuacan; making their landing, as we now learned, just
beyond the town in a bay that ran up close to where our army was
encamped. And this scene of bustling activity in the bright sunshine
made a joyous and brilliant picture; that was all the brighter because
of its setting in that sunlit bay, opening out between beaches of
golden-yellow sand upon the broad expanse of restful water which fell
away in gleaming splendor into a bank of soft gray haze.
But the picture was still more stirring that we saw as we looked
landward, when the barge that we were put aboard of pulled out from the
pier and our rowers lay on their oars, and so waited while the work of
embarkation went on. Right in front of us was the broad central street
of the town; and the whole length of this, from the pier to the Citadel,
was filled with a solidly massed body of soldiers that came down the
steep descent slowly, and halting often, to the boats which were in
waiting to bear them away. Barbarians though they were, these soldiers
made a gallant showing. In front of each regiment was borne its feather
standard, and in the midst of each company was its rallying flag of
brightly painted cotton cloth. The higher officers wore wooden casques,
carved and painted in the semblance of the heads of ferocious beasts;
the cotton-cloth armor of all the officers was decked with a great
variety of strange devices, wrought in very lively hues, and similarly
strong hues were used in the decoration of the universally-carried light
round shields. And all this brilliant color, the more vivid because of
its background of bare brown skins, was flecked with a thousand
glittering points of light where the sunshine sparkled on swords and on
spear-heads of hardened gold.
"Its not much wonder that those fellows got away with us," Rayburn said,
as he watched the orderly manner in which the disciplined ranks moved
out upon the pier and stepped briskly into the boats at the word of
command. "They're as fine a lot of fighters as I ever saw anywhere. Just
look how steadily they stand at a halt, and how sharply they obey
orders, and how well set up they are! I must say I don't see what the
Colonel could have been thinking about when he said that we had a
fighting chance against an army like that. Well, he's paid for his
mistake about as much as a man can pay for anything. It breaks me all up
to think that the Colonel is dead. He was good all the way through. And
I wonder what will become of that little lame boy of his now? They'll
make a Tlahuico of him, I suppose. By Jove! what a mess we've made of
this whole business from first to last!"
My heart was too heavy for me to answer Rayburn save by a nod; for while
he spoke the thought came home to me very bitterly that upon me rested
the responsibility of the black misfortune in which he and Young were
involved; and with this came also a great burst of sorrow as I thought
how still more closely at my door lay Pablo's death--for Rayburn and
Young at least had come into my plans with a reasonable understanding of
the danger to which they exposed themselves; but Pablo, having no such
knowledge, had followed me unquestioningly because of his loving trust
that I would hold him safe from harm. My sorrow concerning Fray Antonio
was keen enough, Heaven knows; but in his case I had the solace of
knowing surely that he had come to his death not because of my urging,
but in pursuance of his own strong desire. There was a little comfort in
the thought that even one of these four lost lives could not be charged
to my account; and yet this reflection seemed only to make my sorrow
heavier as I thought of the woful weight of my responsibility for the
other three.
For nearly two hours we lay there in the bay while the embarkation of
the prisoners and the troops went on--our boat moving farther out from
the pier from time to time as the double line of boats behind it
lengthened. In that sheltered place there was little wind blowing, and
the blazing heat of the sun beating down upon my wounded head gave me so
sharp a pain that I gladly would have died to be rid of it; and I could
see, from the drawn look of their faces, that Young and Rayburn were
suffering not less keenly. We were thankful enough, therefore, when at
last the embarkation was completed--more than half of the army remaining
in Huitzilan to restore order there--and we pulled out from the bay into
the open waters of the lake and were comforted by the light breeze,
which yet brought with it a delicious refreshment, that was blowing
there.
All the bright beauty of that lovely lake was around us, having for its
background the green meadows and the darker green of the forests
hanging above them on the upward slopes, and beyond all the towering
height of the cliffs, which shaded in their colorings from delicate gray
to dark brown, and were touched here and there by patches of black
shadow where some great cleft opened; and yet all that we then thought
of was that across those blue waters, which gleamed golden in the
sunlight, we were going swiftly to a cruel death, and that the cliffs,
whereof the beauty was hateful to us, irrevocably shut us in. Which
gloomy feelings pressed upon us throughout that dismal passage, while
all our oarsmen pulled stoutly together, and we went gliding onward over
the sunlit waters towards the evil fate that we knew was waiting for us
within the dark walls whereby was encircled the city of Culhuacan.
XXXII.
EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE.
While yet we were a long way off from the city, we heard faintly the
yells of triumph with which the watchers above the water-gate gave
notice 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 of
answering 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, and
thence went onward across the basin to the very pier that we had
started from with such high hopes to gather the forces for the rebellion
that had come to so sorry an end.
All the water-side was black with the crowd that had gathered to watch
our landing; but, considering that these people were there to welcome a
victorious army, it seemed to me that they were strangely still and
dull. There was, to be sure, no lack of yelling, but it came for the
most part from a company of priests clustered on the pier where we
landed, and from the soldiers and oarsmen in the boats--not from the
townsfolk at large. And when we were marched upward through the
city--following the same street that we had fought our way along when
last we traversed it--I saw in the crowd so many sullen and dejected
faces that it seemed to me there still was in that city a good deal of
material for the making of another mutiny.
This time we were not taken to the house in which we had met the Priest
Captain, and whence we had been delivered from imprisonment by Tizoc's
gallant rescue of us; but, passing a little beyond this house, we were
led up a broad stair-way to the plateau which crowned the city, and on
which stood the great Treasure-house that also was the temple in which
the Aztlanecas housed their most venerated gods. And I confess that my
delight at seeing closely this building, that until then I had beheld
only from afar off, for a time completely overcame the dread and sorrow
that had oppressed me; and the very strongest desire that stirred within
me just then was for a tape-measure and a pair of compasses and a steel
square, together with the opportunity to fall to work with these several
instruments upon those mighty walls. Indeed, I almost had forgotten that
I was a prisoner, and was like to die soon a very dreadful death, when a
groan that poor Rayburn gave--wrung from him by the pain that he
suffered in being carried up the stairs--recalled me suddenly to a
realizing sense of our situation, and so pressed home upon me the sad
conviction that the science of archæology would gain nothing of all that
I 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, was
a prodigiously heavy wall of squared stones set in cement; and for a
coping this wall had great stones carved in the similitude of serpents'
heads, with mouths wide open, that instantly recalled to my mind the
like enclosure that the Spaniards found surrounding the principal temple
in the city of Tenochtitlan--and I had a sudden strong longing that my
friend Bandelier might be with me at that moment to see how precisely
his very ingenious speculations concerning the snake-wall about the
great Teocalli were here confirmed.
Through a portal formed of two huge blocks of stone carved to represent
two serpents coiled upon themselves, the heads meeting above in a sort
of arch (not a true arch, for each of these serpents was a monolith, and
was supported wholly on its own base), we entered the large enclosure
before the temple. I was surprised to find--for of such a thing among
the ancient Aztecs there is no record--that in the centre of the
enclosure the rock had been hewn away in such a fashion as to create a
vast amphitheatre; and that this was the place where sacrifice was
offered by the priests was shown by the blood-stained altar in the
centre of it, to which fragments of flesh also adhered, whence was
wafted up to us a dreadful stench that instantly racked us with queasy
qualms. Save directly in front of the entrance to the temple, where was
a great stone balcony with a smaller balcony below it, all the sides of
the amphitheatre were cut in steps, which made, also, benches where the
multitude could sit at their ease and behold the bloody work going on in
the pit below them; and so enormous was this rock-hewn cavity that fully
forty thousand people could at once be seated there. Under the balcony
there was visible the entrance to a dark tunnel-like passage, that
evidently communicated with the temple, and a smaller passage, not large
enough for a man to pass through, slanted downward to where it opened on
the terrace below; which last was to drain the blood away, and also to
free the amphitheatre from water in the season of rains.
We held our noses as we skirted this shocking place, and we were glad
enough when we got beyond it and came to the entrance to the temple--a
very noble portal, severely simple, and because of its simplicity the
more majestic, in which, as in the whole of the façade, was manifest the
grave and sombre Egyptian feeling that I had before observed. Through
this we passed into the shadowy interior, lighted by only a few narrow
slits cut in the enormously thick walls, where the lofty roof was
upheld by a wilderness of columns which opened before us seemingly
endless vistas where an eternal twilight reigned. Of interior decoration
there was nothing save a broad and simple panelling upon the walls, and
the great pillars were mere round monoliths without either bases or
capitals.
As we entered this, to them, most sacred place a hush fell upon our
escort, and even I felt something of that reverent awe that is inspired
by any building which has been sanctified by the worship of multitudes
within it through countless years. But that Young did not at all share
this feeling with me was made manifest by his observing, after taking a
long look around him: "Well, this wouldn't answer for a Congregational
church, anyway. There ain't a pew in th' whole place, an' here in broad
daylight you couldn't see a hymn-book if you tried. I wonder what they'd
say, 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' this
chill an' dampness if they'd have a steam-heater put in at th' same
time. It's enough t' give all hands rheumatism th' way cold creeps
strike up your legs." But at this point Young's observations were cut
short peremptorily by the hand that one of the guards laid across his
mouth; which hint that it was desirable for him to keep silence was
quite unmistakable.
This decided repression of Young's chattering, no doubt, was the more
vigorous because we now were approaching the farther end of the temple,
where loomed before us amid the shadows a great idol, set upon an
altar-like throne. This figure, fully ten feet high, was a strange
medley of grotesque and hideous carvings that yet in its entirety was
like a man; and so cruel and so ferocious was the general air of it that
it well might inspire a very lively terror in simple souls. The most
striking feature of the figure was a dismal skull, that was outheld from
the region of the waist by two great hands placed there arbitrarily and
without any relation to the figure's arms; and for a crest--repeating
the motive of the gate-way--it had two serpents' heads, the bodies
pertaining to which were twisted and involved about the whole mass. For
eyes this evil thing had large and gleaming green stones--being, in
truth, emeralds, though I did not at that time recognize them as
such--and golden serpents, very beautifully wrought, were twisted about
it, and a collar of golden hearts was hung around its neck over a sort
of apron of shining green feathers; and feathers of a like sort rose
above the heads of the serpents in a thick plume; and over every part of
the figure were scattered glittering objects--emeralds, and disks of
gold, and scraps of mother-o'-pearl, and fragments of obsidian--whence
shone through the heavy shadows faint, shimmering points of light. In
one of its out-stretched hands the figure held a bow, and in the other a
bunch of arrows; but even without these unmistakable attributes I should
have known from the skull and from the serpents' heads that this fierce
and hideous idol represented the god Huitzilopochtli: the first
divinity, and throughout the whole time that their bloody religion
endured, the principal divinity, that the ancient Mexicans adored.
Young did not venture to speak aloud again, but he turned to me with a
long sigh and whispered, earnestly, "That certainly is, Professor, the
very d----dest thing I ever saw!"
As I knew, it was in keeping with the Aztec customs that prisoners taken
in war thus should be brought first of all before the god
Huitzilopochtli, that they and their captors together might do him
reverence; therefore, I was not surprised when a priest came forth from
behind the altar and bade us prostrate ourselves in adoration of the
idol. As this order was given, all the Aztlanecas with us bowed
themselves 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 in
that position; for a couple of soldiers instantly laid hands upon each
of us, and by shoving our shoulders sharply forward, and at the same
moment kicking our legs from under us, they summarily laid us face
downward at full length upon the floor. As for Rayburn, they seemed to
be satisfied with his recumbent position upon the stretcher; at any
rate, they suffered him to remain as he was.
While I lay prone, quivering with rage at the double indignity of being
thus roughly handled, and of being compelled even in form to worship a
disgusting idol, I heard an odd little pattering upon the stone floor,
and then something cold and clammy was thrust against my hand, and at
the same instant I heard close beside me a curious snuffling noise; and
while a glad doubt, that I scarce ventured to give way to, was rising
within me, the clammy thing was taken away from my hand, and there
straightway rang out through the gloomy silence of the temple a
thunderous braying that seemed fairly to shake the walls. There was no
mistaking the voice of the friend who with this triumphant blast
welcomed me; and as I heard it there came into my heart a sudden glow of
hope 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 Sabio
beside him, not a dozen feet away from me; and a little beyond them was
the monk, his face all lighted up with a bright look of happiness and
love. And seeing these three once more standing alive and well before me
was the most amazing and also the very gladdest sight that ever met my
eyes.
It was a sore trial to me that I could not immediately hold converse
with Pablo and with Fray Antonio, and so come to know through what
adventures they had passed, and by what miracles their lives had been
saved; but the ceremony in which our captors were engaged was but half
completed, and the better to assure our orderly conduct during its
continuance we were kept asunder in the procession that then was
formed--the object of which procession, as my knowledge of the Aztec
customs led me rightly to infer, was that the ceremonial of triumph
might be ended by leading us thrice around the sacrificial stone. And in
truth I dreaded less the fate which this leading us about the altar of
sacrifice implied was in store for us than I did the close association,
made necessary by the ceremony, with the direful stench which that vile
altar exhaled.
At the edge of the amphitheatre, where already the evil odor was almost
overpowering, the soldiers who had charge of us relinquished us--as it
seemed to me, most thankfully--to a company of the temple priests;
whereof the chief was a round, fat little man, whose shortness of legs
very obviously was accompanied by a corresponding shortness of wind. He
was, in truth, a most hopelessly undignified little personage; yet he
did his best to assume a look of dignity as he waddled down the steps in
advance of us, and he manfully endeavored to conceal the difficulties
encountered by his short fat legs in the course of this descent. And I
was glad enough that we had his absurd performances to distract our
minds a little from the dismalness of our surroundings, and especially
from the queasiness that again beset our stomachs as our noses were
assailed more and more violently by that most evil smell. The priests, I
observed, had cotton stuffed in their nostrils; but for us there was
nothing 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 not
blest with hands to hold it fast with, grew restive as the first whiff
struck him; which resulted less, I suppose, from the intrinsic vileness
of the smell than from the fact that he, in common with all peace-loving
animals, had aroused in him an instinctive terror by the odor of blood.
Pablo's voice, and Pablo's touch, possibly might have soothed and
quieted him; but the efforts which the priests who were leading him made
to restrain him only served the more to terrify him, and so to increase
his violence. And the priests, who now for a considerable time had seen
him daily, and had known him only as the most gentle and biddable of
creatures, were mightily astonished, and evidently were terrified, by
this sudden outbreak of a fierce temper that most reasonably took them
entirely by surprise. Partly by pulling at the rope that they had about
his neck, and partly by such pushes as they dared to give him while he
was momentarily at rest, they succeeded in forcing him down the steps;
and so at last into the large circular space at the bottom of the
amphitheatre, in the midst of which stood the stone of sacrifice and
where the smell of blood was overpoweringly strong. But by the time that
this 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 a
veritable crazy creature, inflamed by the madness of fear and rage.
[Illustration: EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE]
By some miracle--a very happy miracle for those whom the poor ass most
naturally regarded as his tormentors--El Sabio's nimble heels had until
this moment lashed the air harmlessly; but just as the last step
downward was accomplished he let out both of his hind-legs together, and
with such precision that both of his hoofs struck a remarkably tall
priest who had taken a very active part in persecuting him. The blow was
landed fairly on the tall priest's stomach, and instantly the two long
halves of that priest shut together like a jack-knife, and he fell to
the ground with a gasp that told how thoroughly the wind was knocked out
of him. Doubtless this outburst of violence served but to increase El
Sabio's terror, for he straightway gave so strong a plunge that he
fairly broke away from the men who were holding him; and then he bent
all his energies to working such destruction as never was worked by one
single ass since the very beginning of the world!
Fortunately for our own safety--for El Sabio was in no condition to
discriminate between friends and foes--we still were at some distance
from the bottom of the amphitheatre when this outbreak occurred; the
greater part of the priests having preceded us, and El Sabio having been
led 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 in
his work," as Young expressed it, on these enemies of his and ours was a
joyful wonder to behold. Being closely penned in--for the way whence
they had entered the amphitheatre was barred by the crowd of which we
were a part, and the entrance to the subterranean passage leading to the
temple was closed--the priests had no chance to escape from the furious
creature save by clambering up the smooth wall, fully eight feet high,
by which was enclosed the circular space that immediately surrounded the
altar. Even an agile man, going at it quietly, would have found a little
difficulty in executing this gymnastic feat, that required for its
accomplishment sheer lifting of the body until a leg could be thrown
over the top of the wall; and as these priests, for the most part, had
grown fat and sluggish in their sacred calling, they were wellnigh
incapacitated from performing it. Furthermore, El Sabio manifested what
had the appearance of being a most diabolical ingenuity--yet that, no
doubt, was no more than chance--in delivering flying kicks against the
legs of these dangling creatures; wherefrom such keen pain resulted that
they instantly let loose their hold, and came tumbling to the ground.
So far as we were concerned--our sympathies being wholly on the side of
the ass--this astonishing spectacle remained a broad farce until the
very end; but it presently became to the men engaged in it a very
serious tragedy. As he made his wild charges, El Sabio galloped backward
and forward again and again over the bodies of his prostrate enemies; in
the course of which gallopings his sharp little hoofs cut their naked
flesh savagely, and now and then, when he happened to land a kick fairly
against a man's body, we could see, from the sinking in of the fellow's
ribs and the gush of blood that burst from his nostrils, that the ass
had 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 El
Sabio 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 us
and higher up behind us gave vent to a shrill roar of shouts and yells
that seemed to be partly in the nature of advice, and partly the result
of that instinct which prompts all barbarians to yell whenever anybody
else yells, on general principles. Pablo interpolated a most despairing
note 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 from
the direful fate that well might be expected to overtake him in
recompense of his direful deeds; and Young fairly tossed his battered
Derby 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 had
broken 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's
frantic charges by the display of an agility that I would not have given
him credit for, the little fat priest managed to preserve his small
round body unharmed until all of his companions had either escaped over
the 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 were
standing, but the lower end of this was choked with the dozen or more
badly wounded wretches who had crawled thither in their efforts to
escape; and these the priests in front of us, being but cowardly
creatures, had made no effort to succor or to lift away, for the reason
that so long as this barrier remained they themselves were safe from El
Sabio's fury.
Having, therefore, no longer any one to hide behind, the fat little
priest evidently realized that his only hope of salvation lay in making
an effort, truly heroic in one of his height and girth and woful
shortness of wind, to clamber up the face of the wall; and to this
wellnigh impossible task he most resolutely set himself. It was only by
jumping that he was able to get a grip over the top of the wall; yet
when this grip was gained he could get no farther on his way to
deliverance, and so he hung dangling there, his face to the wall,
jerking his short fat legs about spasmodically, and wasting in most
piercing yells what little there was in him of wind.
It did really seem as though El Sabio's action in these premises was
dictated by reason, for when he saw the priest in this wholly
unprotected position he deliberately took his stand at precisely the
point behind the little man where all of his kicking power could be most
effectively used. There was a momentary hush as El Sabio thus placed
himself, for every one perceived how very open was the priest to
assault; and at the same time it was apparent that while El Sabio's
kicks assuredly would be exceedingly painful, they were not likely to
inflict upon the priest, while he remained in that attitude, a deadly
wound. In an instant the two small heels flashed through the air, and
there was heard a dull, soft sound--such as might come from the striking
of an over-ripe melon with a heavy club--and with this burst forth a
most piercing shriek of pain. Yet the little priest, knowing that his
life depended upon it, most gallantly retained his hold. Again El Sabio
kicked, and again a piercing shriek sounded; and one hand loosened for a
moment and then clutched fast again. But when El Sabio kicked for the
third time human nature was too weak to resist further against brute
violence. With a yell that fairly cracked our ears the priest let go
his hold and fell downward and backward; and at that same instant El
Sabio delivered a final kick that struck fairly on the head of the
falling man and battered in his skull.
As for El Sabio, it seemed as though he himself were like to die in the
very moment of his victory; for with a sort of groan that, coming from a
brute beast, was most pitiful to listen to, the poor terrified creature,
utterly exhausted by his fright and his outlay of energy in furious
violence, sank down panting by the side of the man whom he had slain.
XXXIII.
IN THE AZTEC TREASURE-HOUSE.
Even with El Sabio reduced to this condition of complete quiescence, the
Aztlanecas, soldiers as well as priests, still were terribly afraid of
him; being firmly convinced, as was not at all unnatural, that for the
time being there was embodied in him a devil of a most dangerous sort.
Therefore they were but too glad to yield to Pablo's burning eagerness
to get to the poor ass; and when he called for aid to carry the
exhausted creature out from the amphitheatre, and so away from among the
dead and wounded and from the dreadful smell of blood, Young and I
promptly were pushed forward and ordered to perform this piece of work
that even the bravest of them shrunk from undertaking.
However, there was no real peril in it, for El Sabio was so weak that he
could not even stand, and still less was he strong enough to kick
anybody. Lifting him in this dull, limp state, and carrying him up the
steep steps, was heavy work for us, wounded and weary as we were; but
with Pablo's help we managed it, and so got him up from the depths of
the amphitheatre to its windward side--where a fresh sweet breeze that
was blowing, and some water that a soldier brought when Pablo called for
it, in a little while put new life into him. Why the ass was not made to
pay the penalty of his sins, by being there and then killed, at first
was a good deal of a puzzle to me; but presently, from the talk that
went on about us while Pablo ministered to him, and while the wounded
lying around the altar were being cared for, and the dead borne away, I
gathered that no one dared to kill him for fear of being himself
possessed by the devil that needs must enter another body upon being
thus set free. And as this seemed to be a view of the case that was
worth encouraging, I very gravely told one of the priests that I myself
had seen a man all in an instant go raving mad upon slaying one of these
creatures and so letting the devil loose from him. As this story was
circulated among the crowd I was glad to perceive that the dread of El
Sabio obviously greatly increased.
As a result of the untoward outbreak that had occurred, no attempt was
made to complete the ceremonial of triumph. Indeed, the victory now lay
so decidedly with El Sabio that there was but little to triumph over.
Therefore we presently were herded together by a party of soldiers--who
took good care that Pablo should lead the ass, and that Young and I
should walk directly behind him as a protection against any further
uplifting of his heels--and so we all were marched once more into the
temple. This time we did not stop in front of the great idol, but went
on beyond it towards a portal in the rear of the building that opened on
an inner court; on the farther side of which court, as we knew from the
description of the place that Tizoc had given us, was the
Treasure-house, in which was stored not only the treasure placed there
in long past ages by King Chaltzantzin, but also the treasure belonging
to the State and to the temple that had been accumulated in later times.
At the entrance to the court-yard, where the way was closed by a metal
grating over which a heavy curtain hung, the soldiers formally
relinquished us into the charge of a company of priests; and then the
curtain was drawn aside and the grating was raised, and we passed out
into the bright sunlight--and saw close before us the place which for so
long a time had so largely filled our thoughts. It was a building of no
great size, being but a single story high, and was dwarfed by the vastly
stupendous cliffs which so far overtopped it that they seemed to extend
upward to the very sky; but it was most massively constructed, and the
actual available space within it was far greater than was indicated by
the relatively small dimensions of its exterior walls. When we entered
the building, through a narrow opening protected by a metal grating, the
chamber into which we came was of so considerable a size that a part of
it, we perceived, must extend actually into the cliff; and that the work
of quarrying out the living rock had been carried still farther was
shown by an opening at its rear end that evidently gave access to some
hollow depth beyond.
It was towards this inner recess that our guards led us. Here another
grating was raised that we might pass, and we went onward through a
narrow passage cut in the rock, along the sides of which were many
openings giving access to small cell-like rooms. Nor was this place, as
we had expected to find it, wholly dark; for narrow slits had been cut
through the rock out to the face of the cliff, through which came so
much light that we could see about us very well. And but for that
blessed light, faint though it was, I doubt not that we should have gone
mad there; and even with the light to cheer and to comfort us I felt a
black despair settling down upon me at the thought of being thus
imprisoned within the very bowels of the mountain, with no possibility
of other release than being taken thence to die.
At the extreme end of the passage the rock had been hollowed away
smoothly and carefully so as to form a chamber nearly thirty feet square
and at least twenty feet high, whereof all the walls were covered with
plates of gold which overlapped each other in the manner of fishes'
scales; and advantage had been taken of some wide crevice or deep
depression in the cliff above to open in the roof of this chamber a
small aperture, whence a pale light entered in long fine rays which
gleamed through the shadows, and gleamed again more faintly in
reflections from the golden walls. In this oratory--for such it
evidently was--stood a statue, smaller than that in the temple yet still
more magnificently arrayed, of the god Huitzilopochtli; before which
odious image we were thrown upon our faces by our guards. When this
ceremony was ended we were led forth once more into the passage, and so
into two of the little cells which had been meagrely prepared for us by
tossing into each of them a bundle of mats; and there our guards left us
to shift for ourselves--shutting the grating behind them with a sharp
ringing of metal on stone that echoed dismally through the rock-hewn
chambers wherein we were held fast.
For a while we stood in melancholy silence about the stretcher on which
poor Rayburn lay; and very pale and worn he looked after his great loss
of blood and heavy fatigue and the pain and excitement of the last few
hours. Pablo had taken up his quarters with El Sabio in a cell on the
opposite side of the passage--for within the limits of our prison we
were left to arrange ourselves as we pleased--and we could hear him
talking to the ass in a fashion that at any other time we should have
laughed at; for by turns he upbraided him for his rash acts, and
complimented him upon his bravery, and expressed dread of the punishment
that might be visited upon him, and told him of his very tender
love--all of which, so far as we could judge, El Sabio took in equally
good part.
"There ain't no good in standin' 'round here doin' nothin'," Young said,
at last. "This don't look like much of a place t' break out of, but we
may as well see how things are, anyway. Th' Padre'd better take a
squint at Rayburn's busted leg an' set th' bandages straight; an' while
he's attendin' t' that, me an' you, Professor, can do a little
prospectin'. This is th' Treasure-house, for sure, an' it'll be some
satisfaction t' see what it amounts to. I'll bet a hat there ain't
anything worth havin' in th' whole place, after all."
I was glad enough to have any occupation that would change even a little
the sad current of my thoughts, and I therefore very willingly acted on
Young's suggestion--after first making sure that Fray Antonio had no
need of help in his work of dressing Rayburn's wound--and together we
set about this curious exploration; that had in it a strong charm for
me, notwithstanding my heavy sorrow, because of the possibility that it
opened of finding curious traces of a new community so far advanced in
civilization as was that which the King Chaltzantzin had brought with
him into this valley a thousand years ago. Here, unquestionably, was the
oldest deposit of the belongings of any of the primitive dwellers upon
the American continent; and I trembled a little with excitement at the
thought of what archæological treasures I here might find--and then I
heaved suddenly a long sigh as I remembered how useless in my present
case would be even the most brilliant of discoveries.
As for Young's bet of a hat that there was no treasure here worth
having, he would have lost it, had it been accepted, at the very first
of the rooms which we examined; for the whole of this room, a cube of
about ten feet, was packed full of bars of hardened gold from the mine
at Huitzilan. And so was the next room, and the next, until we had found
five rooms thus filled. But all the remaining rooms were entirely empty,
and of the treasure set aside in long past ages by King Chaltzantzin
there was no sign. Yet here, truly, was stored wealth the like of which
the richest monarch in the world could not match for greatness; and as
Young beheld before him such enormous riches his face grew ruddy, an
eager light came into his eyes, the muscles of his throat worked
convulsively, and his breathing was labored and short--until I
demolished all his fine fancies at a blow by saying: "Much good this
treasure is to us, when there isn't a ghost of a chance that either of
us ever will get out of this valley alive!" As I uttered these bitter
words his look of animation left him, and for some moments he was
silent; and when at last he spoke, it was in a tone of calm though
melancholy conviction, and with a most dispassionate air.
"I shall be obliged t' you, Professor, really obliged t' you," he said,
"if you'll just kick me for a blasted fool. Ever since that night in
Morelia when you told me an' Rayburn about this treasure I've regularly
had it on my brain. Through all these months I've been thinkin' about it
when I was awake an' dreamin' about it when I was asleep. An' it's true
for a fact, Professor, that never until this blessed minute, when we've
really struck it, has th' notion come into my fool head that when we did
ketch up with it the folks it rightly b'longed to might want t' keep it
for theirselves! Yes, just kick me, please. Just kick me for a forlorn,
mis'rable, blasted fool!"
I was not disposed to laugh at Young's words; rather was I disposed to
weep over them. For they brought freshly and strongly to my mind the
fact that I was responsible for alluring him, by the hope of acquiring
great riches quickly, into this accursed valley, where in a little while
he would be most barbarously done to death. And I knew too that I was
responsible for the like fate that must overtake Rayburn, and that in
regard to Pablo my guilt was greatest of all. It was a comfort to me,
truly, that not one of these ever by look or word reproached me for thus
so wofully misleading them; and yet, in a certain way, their very
forbearance but added to my pain.
Therefore was I a little gladdened, when we returned again to the
others, to find that Fray Antonio was speaking to Rayburn, with a grave,
calm hopefulness, of those spiritual realities which are higher and
better than material realities, and without steadfast trust in which,
most of us, in the course of this sorrowful thing that we call life,
assuredly would go mad in sheer despair. And listening to this
comforting discourse, which was not checked by our return, did much to
strengthen me to bear my heavy load of vain regret. Presently Fray
Antonio shifted his ground--for he had the wisdom to speak but shortly
on these grave topics, yet using always pregnant words which sank down
into men's hearts and germinated there--and told us of what had befallen
him since he had stolen away from us that night in Huitzilan.
In truth, he had but little to tell, for his adventures had been of a
very simple kind. Upon his arrival in the canoe at the water-gate he
had been at once recognized and admitted, and had been carried directly
to the building in which, on our first coming into the city, we all had
been confined. And there he had been imprisoned until he was led up to
the temple to take part in the triumph that El Sabio's violence so
seriously had marred, and so once more was in our company. Of the Priest
Captain he had seen nothing at all; nor had any answer come back to him
from that dignitary to his urgent plea that, inasmuch as he had thus
surrendered himself, his companions--that is, ourselves--should be
suffered to leave the valley in peace; which silence on the part of the
Priest Captain was not surprising, however, in view of the brave
defiance in words sent by the Tlahuicos, who afterwards were such
cowards in deeds.
In fact, during the brief time of his imprisonment Fray Antonio had not
spoken to a soul save the man who brought him drink and food. Yet his
talk with this man, scant though it had been, had filled him with the
hope that, could he only hold free converse with the people at large,
even as he had done at Huitzilan, the purpose that he had in mind in
coming into the valley would be fulfilled. Although a priest of the
temple, his jailer had listened with a most earnest and hearty attention
to the expounding of Christian doctrine that was opened to him, and had
shown a very cheering willingness to recognize the shortcomings of his
own idolatrous belief as compared with the principles of this purer and
nobler faith. And he had told Fray Antonio that many of his companions
in the service of the temple, having heard somewhat of the new creed
from those who had tome up from Huitzilan, were eager to know more
concerning it; so that it would seem, Fray Antonio declared, as though
there were a harvest there ready to be reaped to Christianity by his
hand. The case was such, he thought, that could he but speak publicly to
the multitude, and especially could there but be vouchsafed from Heaven
some sign by which the verity of his words might be established, he yet
would win to the glorious Christian faith this whole community, that,
through no fault of its own, until that time had remained lost in
heathen sin.
Rayburn and I exchanged glances as Fray Antonio spoke of aid being given
him in his work by a sign from Heaven, for to our notions the time of
miracles was a long while past. But Fray Antonio, as we knew (for once
or twice we three had spoken together of this matter), did not at all
hold with us in believing that miracle-working had come to an end; and
indeed his faith was entirely logical; for, as he himself put it, those
who believed that miracles ever had been wrought for the advancement of
Christianity could not reasonably draw a line at any year since the
Christian Church was founded, and say that in that year miracles ceased
to be. In this matter, as in many others, the resemblance between Fray
Antonio and the founder of his Order, Saint Francis of Assisi, was very
strong.
Pablo's experience as a prisoner had been of a far more trying sort; for
the priests had sought earnestly, he said, by most stringent means, to
pervert him from Christianity to their own faith. When we had been so
rudely separated that day, after our interview with the Priest Captain,
he, and El Sabio with him, had been hurried up the stairs to the temple,
and thence to the Treasure-house; and there, though not in the part of
it in which we then were, he had been ever since confined. Strong
measures certainly had been taken to make a heathen of him. He had been
starved for a while, and he had been deprived of water, and he had been
cruelly scourged, and very harrowing presentments had been made to him
of the death that he must die should he much longer refuse to yield.
That the lad had remained firm in his faith, he told us, sobbing a
little at memory of his hardships, was because of the sorrow that he
knew his yielding would bring upon Fray Antonio and upon me; which
certainly was not the reason that Fray Antonio most would have approved,
but it did not in the least detract from the steady courage that he had
shown in holding out firmly under pressure that would have made many a
man succumb. In all the time that so many cruelties had been practised
upon him, only one man had shown him kindness--an old man, who seemed to
be in charge of the archives that the Treasure-house contained, who
twice had risked his own life by secretly giving him water and food. But
he never had been separated from El Sabio, Pablo said joyfully, in
conclusion, nor had his mouth-organ been taken away from him; and these
blessings had done much to lessen the misery that he was compelled to
bear.
When, in our turn, Rayburn and Young and I had told of the far more
stirring adventures that we had passed through, and of our high hopes
seemingly so well founded that had suffered so dismal a downfall, we all
of us wisely refrained from speculating at all upon the future; instead
of which profitless and painful topic we strove to speak cheerfully of
indifferent matters; and this we did not only that we might the better
keep our hearts up, but that we might not excite Rayburn, who already
was in a dangerously feverish condition by reason of his wound. But,
though we spoke not of it, we none of us doubted what our fate would be;
nor did we imagine that the death that surely awaited us would be long
delayed.
It was a source of wonder to us, therefore, that day after day went by
without bringing the end that we so confidently expected. From the man
who brought us our food we could learn nothing; but this was not from
ill-will on his part, but because he himself knew nothing of the Priest
Captain's plans. This man, though a priest, was not unkindly disposed
towards us, and he even listened to the words which Fray Antonio
addressed to him touching Christian doctrine; but while he
listened--being made of a sterner stuff than the priest who previously
had been Fray Antonio's jailer--he gave no sign of assent. The only
other person whom we had a chance to speak with, and this but rarely,
was the old man who had shown kindness to Pablo, the guardian of the
archives--who, by right of his official position, had free access to
that portion of the Treasure-house from which the second grating cut us
off. At the grating he and I had some very interesting conversations
together upon archæological matters; but Fray Antonio took but little
interest in him when he found how slight was the impression made upon
him by the most serious of doctrinal talk. In truth, this old
fellow--wherefore my own heart warmed to him--was wholly given to the
study of antiquities; and so full was his mind of this delightful
subject that there was no room left in it for thoughts about religions
of any sort. He was entirely catholic in this matter, for his unconcern
respecting Christianity was neither more marked nor less marked than was
his unconcern toward his own avowed faith.
Many curious things this old man told me touching the history of his
people; and he showed me, also, the manner in which their annals were
kept--an obvious evolution from the picture-writing of the Aztecs that
had advanced to a stage closely resembling the cross between ideaographs
and an alphabet that the Coreans use--all of which I have dealt with
exhaustively in my larger work. And he told me also, with a wonder that
did not seem uncalled for, that several times in each year the Priest
Captain retired to the very place in which we then were imprisoned, and
remained there sometimes for as much as a whole month cut off from his
people, without food or drink, while he communed with the gods.
But what seemed strange to me, and also bitterly disheartening, was that
this old man, notwithstanding the office that he held and his hungry
love for ancient things, could tell me nothing of the treasure that King
Chaltzantzin had stored away. He knew of this treasure, he said, only
as a vague tradition; and although, at one time or another, he had
explored every chamber in the Treasure-house, he never had found of this
ancient deposit the smallest trace; for which excellent reason he had
concluded that if ever there had been such a treasure it long since had
been dispersed. No doubt--considering how useless to me, beyond the mere
gratification of my own curiosity, would have been its discovery--my
regret at this abrupt ending of my hopes was most unreasonable; but I
confess that, so far as I myself was concerned, the very keenest pang of
sorrow that I suffered through all that sorrowful time was when I thus
learned that the archæological search that I had entered upon so
hopefully, and that I had so laboriously prosecuted, had been but a
fool's errand from first to last.
XXXIV.
A MARTYRDOM.
Heavily and wearily the days dragged on as we lay in that dismal prison
hewn from the mountain's heart; and as they slowly vanished there stole
upon us a new sorrow, that was deeper and more searching than the
doubting dread by which we were beset touching the cruel ending of our
lives.
Rayburn's wound--a very savage cut in the thigh, made by the jagged edge
of a maccahuitl--from the first had been a dangerous one; and the danger
had been aggravated by inflammation that had followed that long, hot
journey across the lake, and by the rough handling that his bearers had
given him, and by the excitement that had attended El Sabio's fiery
outburst beside the sacrificial stone. Even Fray Antonio's skill in
surgery, without which he assuredly would have quickly died, only barely
sufficed to keep him alive while the fever was upon him; and when at
last the fever left him, the little strength remaining to him grew less
with every passing day. It was pathetic to see this man, who until then
had been the very embodiment of rugged vigor, so worn with suffering
that without Fray Antonio's tender assistance he scarce could move; and
still more pathetic was it to hear him moaning in his pain, and uttering
heart-sick longings for sunlight and fresh air, for need of which, Fray
Antonio affirmed, he was dying there quite as much as because of his
wound. Indeed, the chill chamber in the rock where he was lying was no
fit place even for a well man at that time to dwell in; for the season
of rains had come, and all the nights were cold and damp, while through
the afternoons and in the night-time, during which portions of the day
the rain fell in torrents, the whole mountain was shaken by the
tremendous peals of thunder which roared and crashed about its crest.
It was after one of poor Rayburn's pitiable outbreaks of weak moaning
that Young led me away into the oratory, with the evident intention of
delivering himself of some matter that pressed heavily upon his mind.
"See here, Professor, I just _can't_ stand this any longer," he said,
when we were alone. "I'm goin' t' send word t' th' Priest Captain t'
ask him if finishin' me off in short order won't make him willin' t' let
Rayburn out o' this damp hole into some place where he can be
comfortable, an' where in th' mornin's he can get some sun an' air.
Rayburn won't mind bein' squarely killed after he's healthy again. He
ain't th' kind t' be afraid of anything when he's feelin' all right. But
it's just infernal cruelty t' kill him this way--it wouldn't be fair to
a dog. So I'm goin' t' try what I can do. It's nothin' much t' do, any
way--only runnin' a little ahead o' th' schedule, that's all."
Oddly enough, something of a like purpose had been for some time past
slowly forming in my own mind--though what I intended to do would have,
I hoped, still better consequences; for my notion was to urge that for
the pleasure that could be had from killing me, my companions should be
given such freedom as was to be found in that rock-bound region beyond
the Barred Pass. Therefore, when Young thus brought up the matter openly
between us, I told him of my own intention; and with some emphasis I
advised him that inasmuch as I first had thought of it, to me belonged
the right to carry this project into execution; and especially was this
right mine, I urged, because but for me neither he nor any of the rest
of us--saving only, possibly, Fray Antonio--ever would have come into
that valley at all. Thereupon we fell to wrangling somewhat hotly; for
Young was a most pig-headed man when his mind was set upon anything, and
his notions of argument even at the best of times were of the loosest
kind.
How our talk might have ended I cannot tell, for each of us most
resolutely was determined to have his own way; but it actually did end
because of an interruption by which we presently learned that a will
finer and stronger than either of ours had been acting, while we had
been only thinking, in a fashion that cut the ground completely from
under us both. And all that followed within the next hour or two came
upon us with so startling a suddenness that it seemed less like reality
than like a terrible dream.
The first intimation that we had that anything was upon us out of the
common run of our drearily dull prison life was hearing a creaking noise
that we knew must be caused by the raising of the grating that shut us
in; and as we hurried out from the oratory into the long passage-way we
saw a company of soldiers coming towards us, at the head of which was a
priest. Fray Antonio and Pablo, startled as we had been by the sound
caused by the opening of the grating and the tramp of feet, also had
come out into the passage; but while Pablo evidently was wondering, even
as we were wondering, what might be the purpose that these men had come
to execute, the look upon the monk's face was of expectation rather than
of surprise. And without waiting for the others to speak, he asked,
eagerly: "Is it to be?"
"It is to be," the priest answered; and it seemed to me that there was
sorrow in the look that went with his words, and sorrow also in the tone
of his voice; and that this man truly was sorrowful because of the
message that he brought I doubt not, for he was the priest who had been
jailer to Fray Antonio, and whose mind had seemed so open to receive the
doctrine that Fray Antonio taught.
But there was only joy in the bearing of the monk as his question thus
was answered; and there was a ringing gladness in his voice as he
replied--being most careful first to draw us away from the room in which
Rayburn was lying--to our looks of wondering inquiry. "The Priest
Captain has granted my request," he said, and added quickly: "Do not
sorrow for me, my friends. Dying for the Faith is the most glorious
ending that life can have; and happier still is he to whom, with this
rare privilege, is given also that of dying that those whom he loves may
yet be saved alive. The Priest Captain has promised that when I have
paid this little debt of life you whom I love so greatly shall go
free--"
"Don't you believe him! He's a blasted liar from the word go!" Young
struck in, clean forgetting, in the passionate sorrow that was rising in
his breast, that what Fray Antonio so plainly had in mind to do he
himself had been most strongly bent upon doing but a moment before. But
Young spoke in English, and without heeding him Fray Antonio went on:
"You two, and the boy, surely will live; and perhaps life may be given
also to our friend. He is in God's hands. And then, until----"
But further speech was not permitted to him. Two soldiers stepped
forward and grasped his arms, yet first suffering him for a moment to
clasp hands with us, and so led him towards the open grating; and behind
him Young and I and Pablo were conducted in a like fashion by the
guards. As we passed the room in which Rayburn lay we heard him moaning
faintly; and so weak was he that it seemed to me a very likely thing for
us to find him dead there upon our return--if, indeed, we ever returned
at all.
As we passed out into the inner court of the temple, where the sum shone
joyously--for the day still was young, and the rain-clouds had but begun
to gather about the mountain peaks--we heard a murmur in the air like
the distant sound of bees buzzing; and as we entered the rear portal of
the temple this sound grew louder, yet still was soft and blurred. In
the temple, Fray Antonio was separated from us, being led towards the
inner entrance of that subterranean passage which opened into the pit of
the amphitheatre; and as we went onward to the great portal in the
temple's front we cast towards him sorrowful looks, in which all the
bitter pain that was in our hearts was concentrated, but had in answer
from him, as he walked with elate bearing between his guards, only looks
of most joyful hope in which was also a very tender love.
The noise that at first had seemed to us like bees buzzing grew louder
as we advanced, until, when we came out upon the open space before the
temple, it swelled into a mighty roar. And there the cause of it was
plain to us; for before us lay the great amphitheatre crowded with a
seething multitude, and all the thousands gathered there were uttering
savage cries of delight at thought of the savage spectacle that now in a
few moments would gladden their fierce hearts. In the midst of this
tumult we were hurried into a sort of balcony, heavily built of stone,
that hung upon the slope of the amphitheatre; just behind and above
which was a much larger balcony of richly wrought stone-work that was
covered by a canopy of colored stuffs, and that had in its midst a sort
of throne. And at sight of us a great shout went up, that in a moment
died away into a hush of silence as the Priest Captain, with a company
of priests about him, entered the balcony behind us and took his seat
upon the throne.
But in another instant the shouting burst forth again as Fray Antonio
came out from the passage that opened beneath us, and in a moment was
lifted bodily by his guards and placed upon the Stone of Sacrifice in
plain view of all. I wondered as I saw that only soldiers accompanied
him, and that there was no sign of the coming of the priests by whom the
sacrifice would be made. But my wonder ceased, and the burning pain that
then consumed me was a little lessened, as there came forth from the
underground passage, guarded by four soldiers, a very tall, strong
Indian, whose muscles stood out in great knots upon his lithe body and
legs and arms, and immediately following him six others no less
powerful--for then I knew that Fray Antonio was not to die the cruel and
bloody death of a sacrificial victim, but was to have, in accordance
with the Aztec custom, such chance of life as was to be found in
fighting these seven men in turn and receiving his freedom when he had
slain them all. Yet as I looked at the slim figure of the monk, and then
at these burly giants ready to be pitted against him, I knew that but
one result could issue from that unequal combat; and a sudden dizziness
came upon me, and for a moment all around me was dark. Nor was this
momentary darkness wholly imaginary; for just then--with a low growl of
distant thunder--a fragment broke away from the great mass of black
cloud that hung upon the crest of the cliff above us and drifted
sluggishly across the face of the sun.
When my dizziness had passed, and I could again see clearly, the warrior
was standing upon the Stone of Sacrifice--naked save for his
breech-clout, and armed with a round shield and a maccahuitl of hardened
gold. The monk still wore his flowing habit, whence the hood had fallen
back, so that his head was bare; in one hand he held his crucifix, and
with the other he was motioning away the sword and shield that a soldier
held out to him: at sight of which refusal on his part to be armed there
was a shrill outcry among the multitude that the fight would not be
fair; and to this sharp noise of strident voices there was added a
solemn undertone that came in a low roll of thunder from the overhanging
cloud.
[Illustration: FRAY ANTONIO'S APPEAL]
As though to still the clamor, the monk waved his hand; and when at this
sign the outcries ceased, he asked--yet addressing not the Priest
Captain but the whole mass of people gathered there--if certain words
which he desired to utter would be heard. And in answer to him there
went up a shout of assent, in which was drowned completely (save that
we, being close beneath him, heard it) the Priest Captain's order that
the fight should begin. And it struck me that the Priest Captain showed
his appreciation of the critical situation with which he then was
dealing, and his dread of the forces which an ill-timed word in
opposition to the will of the multitude might let loose against him, by
refraining from repeating his order when silence came again, and all the
thousands gathered there leaned forward eagerly to hearken to what Fray
Antonio would say.
And what he did say was the most moving and the most exalted deliverance
that ever came forth from mortal man. To that great multitude he
preached there shortly, but with an eloquence that I doubt not was born
directly of heavenly inspiration, a sermon so searching, so full of
God's great love and tenderness, and so full also of the majesty of His
law and of the long-suffering of His mercy and loving-kindness, that
every word of it falling from his lips seemed to burn into the depths of
all those heathen hearts. My own heart was thrilled and shaken as it
never had been stirred before, and the boy Pablo wept as he listened;
and even Young, to whom the spoken words had no meaning, grew pale, and
sweat gathered upon his forehead as his soul was moved within him by the
infinitely beseeching tenderness of Fray Antonio's voice: for most
wonderfully did his voice rise and fall in its cadenced sweetness and
entreaty, and there was a strangely vibrant quality in his tones that
matched the tenor of his words, and so held all that vast multitude
spellbound.
As he spoke on, a hush fell upon them who listened; and then through the
throng a tremor seemed to run, but less a sound of actual speech than a
subtle manifestation that in a moment a great outburst of assent would
come, and I felt within me that the work which Fray Antonio had dared
death to accomplish already was triumphantly concluded; and so waited,
breathless, to hear this heathen host proclaim its glad allegiance to
the Christian God.
But the Priest Captain also perceived how imminent was the danger that
menaced the ancient faith, and dared to take the one chance left for
saving it, and that a desperate one, by breaking in upon Fray Antonio's
discourse with a ringing order that the fight should be no longer
delayed; whereat a deep growl of dissent ran through the crowd, that was
echoed in a still deeper roar of thunder in the dark sky. In truth, the
gathering of the storm in the heavens above seemed to be wholly in
keeping with the storm that with an equal celerity was gathering on the
earth below. There was a heavy languor, a dense stillness in the air,
and the cloud above us had drifted out from the face of the cliff so far
that it now hung over all the city like a vast black canopy. From this
sombre mass, that buried all beneath it in gloomy shadows, flashes of
lightning shot forth that each moment increased in fiery intensity, and
the rolling roar of thunder each moment grew louder and sharper in its
dark depths. Even as the Priest Captain spoke there came a yet more
vivid flash, and almost with it a crashing peal.
At the word of command, so vehemently given, the warrior faced about
upon Fray Antonio, and held high aloft his sword; but the monk, firmly
standing there, while in his eyes shone so glorious a light that it
seemed as though the wrath of outraged Heaven blazed forth from them,
opposed to this earthly weapon only his out-stretched crucifix, and thus
confronted the death that menaced him with so splendid a bravery that
for an instant his huge antagonist was held still by a wonder that was
born half of admiration and half of awe; and in the breathless hush of
that supreme moment Fray Antonio cried out, in tones so clear and so
ringing that his words were heard by all the thousands gathered there:
"I call for help upon the living and the only God!"
And even as these words still sounded in our ears there shot forth from
the cloud above us a swift red flash of blinding light, and with this
came a crash of thunder so mighty that the cliffs above strained and
quivered, and great fragments of rock came hurtling down from them, and
a shivering trembling surged through the whole mountain, so that we felt
it swaying beneath our feet.
And as we gazed in awe, through the gloom that from all parts of the
heavens was gathering towards the height whereon we were, we saw before
us God's wrath made manifest; for the warrior, still holding raised the
metal sword that had tempted death to him, trembled, reeled a little,
swayed gently forward, and then, with, a sudden jerk, swayed backward
again, and so fell lifeless--his bare right arm, and all the length of
his naked body to his very heel marked by a livid streak of bloody
purple that showed where the thunder-bolt had passed. For a moment the
monk also seemed stunned; and then, kneeling beside that
lightning-blasted corpse, and holding his hands out-stretched towards
heaven, whence his deliverance had come, he cried in a clear strong
voice, of which the solemn tones rang vibrant through that awful
silence: "The Christian God liveth and reigneth! Believe on Him whose
love and whose mercy are not less tender than is terrible His
transcendent power!"
There was no mistaking the thrill of movement that ran through the
multitude as these words were spoken. I drew a long breath of
thankfulness, for I felt that Fray Antonio was saved, and that in
another instant my ears would be nigh burst by the thunderous roar of
all those thousands--won to him by his own most moving eloquence, and by
sight of the miracle whereby his deliverance had been wrought--that he
should be set free.
And in this instant--in the very moment that this sigh escaped me, while
yet the pause lasted before that great shout came--the Priest Captain
sprang from, his seat above us into the balcony where we prisoners stood
guarded, on downward into the arena below, and thence upon the Stone of
Sacrifice--all with a demoniac agility most horrible to look upon in one
of his withered age--and there, with a fierce thrust of a spear that he
had caught from a soldier's hand in passing, he pierced Fray Antonio
between the shoulders straight through the heart; and the monk, still
grasping in his hands his crucifix, fell face downward upon the Stone of
Sacrifice, and lay there dead!
Then Itzacoatl, standing with one foot upon the monk's dead body, and
grasping still the spear that he had planted in that noble heart, cried
out, triumphantly, "Behold the victory and the vengeance of our Aztec
gods!"
And the multitude, swayed backward from the very threshold of the
Christian faith, shouted together in one mighty voice, "Victory and
vengeance for our gods!"
XXXV.
THE TREASURE-CHAMBER.
Close in the wake of that great thunder-crash there burst upon us so
mighty a flood of rain that it seemed as though the lightning had riven
solid walls asunder within the thick black mass of overhanging vapour,
and so had let loose upon us the waters of a lake. In a moment the whole
pit of the amphitheatre was awash, knee-deep, and before those who were
standing there could flounder to the steps leading upward they were
buried to their waists--and this although the water was pouring out
through the vent provided for it with such violence that we could hear
the rush and gurgle of it above the dashing and roaring of the falling
rain. And all the dark mass of cloud above us was aflame continuously
with blinding flashes of red lightning, while a continuous crash of
splitting peals of thunder rang through the shattered air.
Doubtless this storm was our salvation. That the Priest Captain's
intention, even from the first, had been to kill us also, and so make
his victory complete, I do not for a moment doubt; but he was too shrewd
to waste upon a few terrified spectators an exhibition that would carry
with it a salutary demonstration of his power; and with the bursting of
the flood upon us, the crowd that filled the amphitheatre had begun a
tumultuous flight to the temple; going thither partly for shelter, and
partly being awe-struck by what had passed before them and by the
tremendous fury of the storm, that they might find safety in the
abiding-place of their gods.
Therefore, the order was given hurriedly that we should be taken back to
our prison; in obedience to which command our guards led us through the
temple--where they had difficulty in forcing a way for us through the
dense throng that had gathered within its walls--and thence to the
Treasure-house beyond; and they were in such haste to be quit of us,
that they also might seek safety in the temple, that they scarce waited
to close the grating behind us before they sped away.
So overwhelming was the grief that had fallen upon us that for some
moments we stood as though stunned where the guards had left us; and,
for myself, my one regret was that the chance of the storm, by saving me
yet a little while longer alive, had lost to me the happiness of dying
in the same hour with the friend whom I had so strongly loved. I think
that this thought was in Young's heart also, as he stood there silent
beside me, the blood so drawn away from his face that a dull yellow
pallor overspread his bronzed skin, while his breath came short and
hard. As for the boy Pablo, his whole being was shattered. He sank down
on the rock at our feet, and seemed to be moaning his very life out in
long quivering sobs.
But presently, as our minds grew steadier, the thought of Rayburn came
to us; and the strain upon our heart-strings was relaxed a little by
remembering that our lives still were worth holding fast to in order
that we might minister to his needs. Yet when we came again into the
room where he lay, it seemed at first as though he also was lost to us;
for even in that faint light we saw that his face was a deadly white,
and when we spoke to him he neither spoke nor moved. But, happily, our
dread that he had died in that gloomy solitude was not realized; for as
I laid my hand upon his bare breast I felt his heart feebly beating, and
at the touch of my hand he sighed a little, and then slowly opened his
eyes.
"He's only swounded," Young cried, joyfully. "It's th' smotherin'
shut-upness o' this forlorn hole he's lyin' in. There's a little more
air out in th' big room. Just grab t'other end o' th' stretcher,
Professor, an' we'll yank him out there--nobody's likely t' come in t'
stop us while this storm lasts. An'--an' we must be careful how we talk,
Professor, y' know," he added, in a lower tone, as we raised the
stretcher. "It won't do for him t' know about--about _it_ now." There
was a break in Young's voice as he spoke, and I could feel by the
momentary quiver of the stretcher that a shiver went through him as he
thought of that "it," about which we must for a time hold our peace.
Young bore the forward end of the stretcher, and as we came into the
oratory I felt him start as he exclaimed, "What th' devil's broke loose
here?"
The darkness of the storm outside shrouded the oratory in a dusky
twilight; but even through the shadows which lay thick about us we could
see that there had been within this chamber some outbreak of
extraordinary and tremendous violence; for the image of the god
Huitzilopochtli had been cast down and broken into fragments, and just
behind where it had stood there was a dark rift in the gold-plating of
the walls, where several plates had been wrenched bodily away.
A strong odor of sulphur hung heavily in the air, and, as I perceived
it, the whole matter was plain to me. But Young sniffed at this odor
suspiciously when we had brought the stretcher gently to rest upon the
floor, and in a startled voice exclaimed, "Th' devil has been bustin'
around in here for sure, an' he's left his regular home-made stink for a
give-away!" and as he spoke there was manifest a decided bristling of
his fringe of hair.
I could not help smiling at this quaint proof of the shattered condition
of Young's nerves--for, under ordinary circumstances, he was the very
last man in the world to place faith in things supernatural--but I
answered him promptly: "Then the devil did a stroke of honest business
at the same time, for all this is the work of the same thunder-bolt, or
of a part of it, that killed that Indian. Didn't you hear the rocks
flying from the cliff where it struck?"
"That's just what I was goin' t' say myself," Young replied, a little
awkwardly. "An' that's what's the matter with Rayburn, an' made him
swound away. How d' you find yourself now, old man?" he went on--rather
glad to change the subject, I fancied--as Rayburn, at sound of his own
name, moved a little.
"I feel queer," Rayburn answered. "Sort of numb and dizzy. Where's the
Padre?"
"An' it's not much blame to you that you do feel queer," Young replied,
hurriedly. "This last thing you've taken it into your fool head t' do is
bein' busted all t' bits by a stroke o' lightnin'. Most folks would 'a'
been satisfied with havin' their legs pretty much sliced off by
Injuns--but reasonableness ain't your strongest hold, Rayburn; an' I
guess it never was."
Rayburn smile faintly as Young spoke, but instead of attempting to
answer him--being still numbed by the heavy shock that he had
received--he settled his head back upon the rolled-up coat that served
him for a pillow, and languidly closed his eyes. Whereupon Young, seeing
that there was nothing further that we could do for his comfort, betook
himself--as his bent at all times was when any strange matter presented
itself, and in this case with the half-crazed eagerness with which those
upon whom a great sorrow has fallen seek instinctively to engage their
minds with any trifling matter that will change the current of their
thoughts--to investigating carefully the work of destruction that the
thunder-bolt had wrought: examining the fragments of the idol, and the
loosened plates of gold and the place on the wall whence these last had
been wrenched away; which examination was the easier because the
storm-cloud was leaving us--though the almost continuous loud rolling of
the thunder still stunned our ears--and a stronger light came in through
the opening in the roof.
I seated myself beside Rayburn and paid no attention to what Young was
doing; for my brooding sorrow was like a slow fire consuming me--as the
tragedy that I had but just witnessed, and the infinite pathos that
there was in seeing Rayburn thus miserably dying, overwhelmed me with a
desolate despair. Even when Young called to me, in a tone so eager and
so penetrating that at any other time I should have been startled into
quick action by his words, I did not rouse myself to answer him; though,
in a dull way, I knew that he would not thus have spoken unless some
matter of great moment had aroused the full energy of his mind.
"Professor! I say, Professor!" he repeated: "Get right up and come here.
Don't sit there like a chuckle-headed chump. Get up, I tell you. Here's
some sort of a show for us. Here's what looks like a way out o' this
God-forsaken hole!"
As I heard these words I did get up, and in a hurry, and so joined Young
where he was kneeling on the floor close beside the rear wall of the
oratory, directly behind where the idol had stood until the thunder-bolt
had dashed it down. It was at this point, apparently, that the lightning
had entered the chamber; for here several of the plates of gold with
which the walls were covered--overlapping each other like
fish-scales--had been loosened, while three of them had been wrenched
entirely from their fastenings and had fallen down. As I joined him,
Young excitedly pointed to the opening thus made, through which was
visible not a solid wall of rock but a dark cavity, and from which was
blowing a soft current of cool air.
"It's a way out! It's a way out! I tell you," he cried. "This suck o'
wind proves it. If we only can get some more o' these blasted plates
loose we'll light out o' this and euchre the Priest Captain an' his
whole d--n outfit yet! Ketch hold here, Professor, an' put your muscle
into it for all you're worth. Grab right here; now!" And Young and I
together pulled at the same plate with all our might and main. But for
all the impression that we made upon it we might as well have tried to
pull down the mountain; the plate did not stir. Young gave a hearty
curse (and I confess that hearing him swearing in that natural way again
was a real comfort to me), and then we took another pull; and all this
while, so much does the thought of saving his life put cheer into a man,
my heart was bounding within me and the hot coursing of my blood seemed
like to burst my veins. Young's fervor was not less than mine, and we
wrenched and tugged together, and never stopped to mark our cut and
bleeding hands.
"We've _got_ t' do it!" Young exclaimed, as we paused at last, without
having loosened the plate in the least degree. "There's some way o'
workin' this thing, I know. It must be some sort of a door, an' if we
only can get th' hang of it we'll be all right. Have you got your wind
again, Professor? Let's try 'f we can't sort o' prize this plate out;
it's a little loose. Just get your fingers under it an' we'll sort o'
pull it up an' out at th' same time. So! Now sling your muscle into it.
Heft!"
We were stooping a little, and so had a strong purchase, and with all
our united strength we heaved away together. There was a rattling of
metal, a yielding of the plate so easy that our tremendous effort was
out of all proportion to it; my fingers seemed suddenly to be nipped in
a red-hot vice; Young uttered a yell of pain, and then we both were
sprawling on our backs on the floor, while in front of us was a broad
opening in the wall where a wide section of the panelling had risen
upward (the plates sliding up under each other), and so had made an open
way.
"H--ll! how that did hurt!" Young mumbled, with his nipped fingers in
his mouth; and I must say that the vigor of his language was not
uncalled for, as I well understood by the pain that I myself was
suffering. I never remember pinching my fingers so badly as I did then
in the whole course of my life.
However, we did not suffer our hurts, which were not really serious, to
delay us in exploring this hidden place that so suddenly and with such
unnecessary violence had opened to us. Pushing upward the ingeniously
contrived door from the bottom, we easily raised it until an opening was
discovered the full height of a man; and through this we went into a
narrow passage in the rock that in a moment turned and so brought us
into a room that was nearly as large as the oratory that we had just
left, and that, as we presently found, actually communicated with the
oratory by means of two narrow slits high up in the wall; which
apertures here were plainly visible, but on the other side were so
cleverly disguised by an ingenious arrangement of the overlapping plates
as to be entirely concealed. Like the oratory, too, this room had an
opening in its roof through which air entered, and so much light that we
could see about us plainly. And the very first glance that I cast around
me in this strange place assured me that, by sheer accident, we had
found our way at last to the secret chamber wherein King Chaltzantzin's
treasure had lain hidden for a thousand years.
Rude shelves had been cut in the rock on all four sides of the room, and
on these were ranged earthen pots of curious shapes, ornamented with
strange devices that my newly acquired knowledge enabled me to
recognize--to express the matter in the terms of our system of
heraldry--as the arms of a king quartered with the arms of certain
princely houses or tribes. On these shelves, also, were many quaintly
wrought vessels and some small square boxes, all of which were of
gold--together with a score or so of small idols moulded in clay or
roughly carved in stone, in which last the workmanship was so far
inferior to that of the earthen-ware pots and golden vessels as to show
at a glance that they were the product of a much earlier and ruder age;
but belonging to the same age as the gold-work, or to a period even
later, was a very beautiful Calendar Stone most delicately carved in
obsidian, that was identical, save in the matter of size, with the great
Calendar Stone that now is preserved in Mexico in the National Museum.
This was placed at one end of the room upon a carved pedestal; and at
the opposite end of the room, the end farthest removed from the
entrance, was a great stone image of the god Chac Mool. Lying upon the
Calendar Stone was what at first I took to be a cross-bow made of gold;
but more careful examination convinced me, especially in view of the
place where I had found it, that this certainly was an arbalest--called
also a Jacob's staff and a cross-staff--such as in no very ancient
times, until the invention of the quadrant, was used by Europeans in
taking the meridional altitude of the sun and stars.
At the moment that I made this last most curious and exceedingly
interesting discovery, Young, who had been investigating on his own
account, gave a yell of delight, and bounded towards me flourishing his
own brace of revolvers in his hands. "They're all here!" he cried. "All
our guns are here, an' th 'ca'tridges too! Now we _have_ got the bulge
on these devils for sure!"
As he spoke I also was thrilled with joy at the thought of the vengeance
which this recovery of our arms might enable us to take upon Fray
Antonio's murderers; but my joy was only momentary, for I could not but
reflect that, after all, these Aztlanecas had but acted in accordance
with their lights--excepting only the Priest Captain, for whom the most
cruel death would be all too merciful--and that our slaying them would
not be vengeance, but mere brutal revenge. Having which thoughts in
mind, I answered, "At least we can shoot ourselves with them, and so be
safe from death by sacrifice."
"Not much we won't shoot ourselves," Young replied, with great energy;
"an' nobody's goin' t' come monkeyin' 'round us with sacrifices, either.
Why, man alive, we ain't goin' t' stay here--not by a jugful! We're
goin' t' light right out o' this an' be smack off for home."
"How?" I asked, blankly, and with real alarm; for the hot hope that had
filled me at the thought of our having found a way of escape had
vanished as I perceived that from this chamber there was no outlet save
the hole in the roof; which hole also accounted for the current of air
whereby my hope had been inspired. Therefore, when Young spoke in this
extravagant fashion, the dread came over me that he was going mad.
"How?" he answered, "why, through that Jack Mullins, of course. He _is_
th' tippin' kind. I was just tryin' him, while you was pokin' 'round in
that old rubbish, when I happened t' ketch sight of our guns; an' seein'
them, you bet, made me bounce. Here goes for another shot at him! Stick
somethin' under him t' keep him up when I heave."
I was so dazed by the stunning wonder and by the joy that Young's words
carried with them, that I obeyed his order mechanically. With a grave
seriousness he seated himself upon the head of the idol; and as the
figure and the stone base upon which it rested settled down at the end
upon which he sat, and its other end correspondingly swung upward,
showing beneath it a dark opening, I wedged up the mass with a heavy
plate of gold that served as the lid of one of the boxes ranged upon the
shelves.
"It won't do for us both together t' go down there," Young said, as he
rose from his seat and we peered into the dark cavity. "Mullins might
take 't into his fool head t' shut himself up while we was down there,
an' that ud mean cold weather for Rayburn an' Pablo. I'll just jump down
them steps an' prospect a little, while you look after him t' see that
he keeps steady;" and with these words down he went into the hole.
In five minutes or so he joined me again. "It don't look like th' nicest
place I ever got into," he said, "but I guess we'll have t' take th'
chances on it. There's a little room down there, an' out o' that a kind
of a back entry leads into an everlastin' big cave. But there seems t'
be a sort of a path runnin' along in the cave--it's all as dark as th'
devil--an' as paths mostly have two ends to 'em, I guess if we keep on
long enough we'll get somewhere. We can't stay here, that's sure, so
we've just got t' risk it, an' th' sooner we get Rayburn down there th'
better. When he's solidly safe, then we can do some prospectin'--by
good-luck we've got lots o' matches--an' see where that path goes to.
Just sling on your guns, Professor, an' let's mosey back an' get th'
percession started. It's hard lines on Rayburn t' tumble him into a hole
like that when he's feelin' so bad; but I guess it's better t' take th'
chances o' killin' him that way ourselves than it is t' let these devils
do it for sure. Come on!"
While he was speaking, Young had buckled his revolvers about his waist
and had slung his rifle over his shoulder, and I also in like manner had
armed myself--whereby was restored to me a most comforting feeling of
strength. As for Young, the recovery of his weapons seemed to make him
grow two inches taller, and he swaggered in his walk.
XXXVI.
THE VENGEANCE OF THE GODS.
Almost in the moment that we thus found ourselves in condition to show
fight again, the need for fighting seemed like to be forced upon us; for
as we turned to leave the treasure-chamber we were startled by hearing a
creaking sound that we knew came from the sliding upward of the grating
in its metal grooves wherewith the entrance to our prison was made fast.
We paused for a moment, and then Young motioned to me to follow him,
stepping lightly; and as we came out into the oratory we heard a fresh
creaking, by which we knew that the grating had been closed.
"I guess it's only th' fellow puttin' in th' grub," Young whispered.
"But go easy, Professor, an' have your guns all handy, so's you can
shoot. If anybody _has_ come in it won't do t' let 'em get out again.
Only mind you don't shoot unless you really have to. If there's only two
or three of 'em we'd better try t' club 'em with our Winchesters, so's
not t' bring all hands down on us with a rush before we can get Rayburn
away."
As he spoke, we were assured that some one had entered when the grating
was raised and had remained on our side of the grating when it was
closed again, for we heard footsteps in the room where we ordinarily
lay; and then the footsteps drew nearer, as though the unseen person
were examining the other rooms in search of us, and we knew that in
another moment or two this person would enter the chamber wherein we
were. Rayburn was lying so quietly that it seemed as though he had
fallen into a swoon again; and Pablo, as we could tell by hearing his
sobs, had betaken himself to the room in which El Sabio was tethered in
search of solacing companionship. Young motioned me to stand on one side
of the entrance to the oratory, and himself stood on the other; and thus
we waited, while the footsteps rapidly drew nearer, in readiness most
effectually to cut off the retreat of whoever might enter the room.
The man who did enter, passing between us, was the Priest Captain. As he
saw the wreck of the idol, and the opening in the wall behind where the
idol had stood, he uttered an exclamation of alarm and rage; and in the
same moment some instinctive dread of the danger that menaced him caused
him to turn suddenly around. So, for an instant, he confronted us--and
never shall I forget the look of malignant hatred that was in his face
as in that instant he regarded us, nor his quick despairing gesture at
sight of Young standing there with his rifle raised. Even as he opened
his mouth to cry out, before any sound came from his lips, the heavy
barrel of Young's rifle swept downward, and with a groan he fell.
Had the blow struck fairly it could not but have split the man's skull
open; but he swerved aside a little as the rifle came down, and the
weight of the stroke, glancing from his head, fell upon his shoulder. In
an instant, dropping the rifle, Young was kneeling on his breast with a
hand buried in the flabby flesh of his old throat, holding tight-gripped
his windpipe. Excepting only Rayburn, Young was the strongest man I ever
knew (though, to be sure, at that time he was weakened by his then
recent wound and by the privations of his imprisonment), yet it was all
that he could do to hold that old man down and to maintain his choking
grasp. With a most desperate energy and a fierce strength that seemed
out of all nature in a creature so lean and old and shrivelled, the
Priest Captain writhed and struggled in his efforts to throw Young off,
and sought also to grasp Young's throat with his long bony hands--while
foam gathered on his thin lips, and his withered brown face grew black
with congested blood, and his black eyes protruded until the half of the
eyeballs, bloody with bursting reins, showed around the black, dilated
pupils. And then him struggles slowly grew less and less violent, his
knotted muscles gradually relaxed, his mouth fell open so that his
tongue lolled out hideously, his legs and arms twitched a little
spasmodically--and then he lay quite still.
[Illustration: YOUNG'S STRUGGLE WITH THE PRIEST CAPTAIN]
For a minute or two longer Young maintained his grasp. Then rising to
his feet, breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his face as he
exclaimed, at the same moment giving the dead body a vicious kick: "You
black devil, take that! Now I've squared accounts with you for killin'
th' Padre--and it's the best day's work I've ever done!"
Though the struggle between the two had been a very desperate one, there
had been no noise about it. Through the whole fight Rayburn had remained
buried in his death-like stupor; and Pablo, though so near to us, had
heard no sound of it at all.
"Now, then, Professor," Young said, when he had got his wind back,
"we've got t' bounce. Th' first thing t' do is t' fasten that gratin' on
our side, so's nobody can get in here t' bother us while we're doin' our
skippin'. I guess we can sort o' wedge it fast so's t' stand 'em off for
an hour or two, anyway, an' that's time enough to give us a fair start."
"We can do something better than that, I think," I said, as we went
together towards the grating. "Unless I am much mistaken, only the
Priest Captain knew about this sliding door and the treasure-chamber
beyond it. If we can restore to their places those three plates, and can
close the door behind us, I am persuaded that so far as pursuit of us is
concerned we shall be absolutely safe."
"Gosh!" Young exclaimed. "D' you know, Professor, I wouldn't 'a' given
you credit for havin' that much common-sense. It's a big idea, that is,
an' we'll try it on. But, all th' same, we've got t' make things as
sure as we can, an' this little job must be attended to first."
As we approached the grating we saw two of the temple guard standing
outside of it, apparently waiting for the Priest Captain's return; and
these men looked at us with such evident suspicion that I feared for the
success of our plans. "Just talk to 'em," Young said, hurriedly. "Talk
to 'em about th' last election, or chicken-coops, or anything you
please, while I take a look 'round an' sec how we're goin' t' get this
job done."
Young dropped behind me, and then aside and so out of sight, as I
advanced to the grating and spoke to the men, whose faces somewhat
cleared as I told them that the Priest Captain desired that they should
wait there a little longer. And then I managed to hold their interest
for some minutes while I spoke about the devil that was in El Sabio, and
about other devils of a like sort whom I had known in my time. While I
thus spoke I heard a little tinkling sound, as of metal striking against
stone--but if the soldiers also heard it they paid no attention to
it--and then Young whispered, "We're solid now; come on!" Whereupon I
quickly ended my imaginative discourse upon demoniac donkeys, and with
no appearance of haste we walked away.
"It was just as easy as rollin' off a log," Young said, jubilantly.
"There was a big gold peg stickin' there all ready t' slide into a slot,
so's t' hold th' gratin' down, an' all I had t' do was t' slide it. I
guess, with a plug like that holdin' that gratin' fast, they'll need
jacks t' open it. Th' only other way t' start it 'll be rammin' it with
a bit o' timber; but bustin' it in that way 'll take a lot o' time, an'
half an hour's plenty for all we've got t' do. If you're straight in
thinkin' nobody knows about that slidin' door we're solid."
I felt very sure in my own mind that I was right in believing that only
the Priest Captain had known of this secret opening; for, after him, the
most likely person to have knowledge of it was the keeper of the
archives, and that he was altogether ignorant of it I was well assured.
Therefore I most cheerfully helped Young, so far as my unskilful hands
could be useful, in the work of restoring the gold plates to the places
whence the lightning had wrenched them loose; and when this work was
done, so cleverly did Young manage it, there was no possibility of
distinguishing the door from any other portion of the wall; nor was
there then a sign of any sort remaining to show that by the passage of a
thunder-bolt the idol had been destroyed.
As we were finishing this piece of work we heard the soldiers at the
grating calling to the Priest Captain--at first in low tones, and then
more loudly; and then we heard them give a yell together, which
convinced us that they had tried to raise the grating and had found that
it was fastened down.
The ten minutes that followed was the most exciting time that I ever
passed through. Notwithstanding the secure fashion in which the grating
was fastened, we could not but dread that those outside had knowledge of
some means whereby it could be loosened; and in any event there was no
doubt but that they could force a way in upon us by beating it down.
Therefore we knew that there was no safety for us until we were fairly
out of the oratory, and had closed behind us the sliding door--and with
such difficult material to deal with as Rayburn, who still lay in a
heavy stupor, and Pablo, whom sorrow had wellnigh crazed, we found it
hard to make such haste as the sharp exigency of our situation required.
Pablo, indeed, was so lost in wonder at finding the broken idol, and the
dead body of the Priest Captain, and a door open in the solid wall, that
what little remained of his wits disappeared entirely; so that we had
almost to carry him--while El Sabio most intelligently followed
him--into the treasure-chamber, and there we left the two together while
we returned for Rayburn. And as we lifted the stretcher our hearts
bounded, for at that instant there was a tremendous crash at the
grating; whereby we knew that those without had brought to bear against
it some sort of a battering-ram that they might beat it in.
"It's a close call," Young said between his teeth; and added, as we
rested the stretcher inside the passage while we closed behind us the
sliding door: "If you're off your base, Professor, an' they do know th'
trick o' this thing, it may be all day with us yet--but it's a comfort
t' know that even if they do finish us we'll everlastin'ly salt 'em
first with our guns."
We heard another great crash behind us, but faintly now that the sliding
door was closed, as we went on ward into the treasure-chamber; and here
we heard the like sound again, more clearly, through the slits cut in
the wall. As gently as our haste, and the awkwardness of that narrow
way would permit, we lifted Rayburn from the stretcher, and so carried
him down the short flight of stairs beneath the upraised statue to the
little chamber that there was hollowed in the rock. Here we laid him
upon the stretcher again; and then, without any ceremony whatever, we
bundled Pablo and El Sabio down the hole. It was a smaller aperture,
even, than that through which we had come forth from the Cave of the
Dead, and how El Sabio was able to condense himself sufficiently to get
through it will remain a puzzle to me to my dying day.
All this while we could hear plainly, through the slits in the wall, the
crashing blows which every minute or so were delivered against the
grating, together with a shrill roar of shouts and yells; and we knew
that before this vigorous assault the grating must give way within a
very brief period, and so let in the whole yelping pack. If I were right
in my belief that the Priest Captain alone know of the secret outlet to
the oratory, we still would be safe enough, and could make some
preliminary examination of the cave before we closed the way behind us
irrevocably by letting the statue fall back into its place; but if I
were mistaken, then there was nothing for us but to take the chance of
life and death by going on blindly into that black cavern, after wedging
fast the under side of the statue in such a way that it no longer could
be swung open from above.
It was most necessary, therefore, that we should see what course our
enemies would take when they came into the oratory and found it empty
of us, and the idol broken, and the Priest Captain lying dead there;
and, that we might compass this end, Young and I returned into the
treasure-chamber and mounted upon a ledge that seemed to have been
provided for a standing-place--whence we had a clear view into the
oratory through the slits in the wall. And at the very moment that we
thus stationed ourselves there reverberated through those rock-hewn
chambers a deafening crash and a jingling clang of metal and a rattle of
falling stone; and with this came a yell of triumph and a rush of
footsteps--and then, in an instant, the oratory was full of soldiers and
priests, all yelling together like so many fiends.
But upon this violent hubbub there fell a hush of awe and wonder as
those who had thus tumultuously entered the oratory saw the Priest
Captain lying dead amid the fragments of the shattered idol, and
perceived that the prisoners who had been shut within these seemingly
solid walls had vanished utterly away; and then a sobbing murmur, that
presently swelled into moans and cries of terror, arose from the throng;
and in a moment more, seized by a common impulse, the whole company
bowed downward, in suppliant dread of the gods by whom such direful
wonders had been wrought.
Young gave a long sigh of relief, and with a most mouth-filling oath
whispered in my ear, "They haven't tumbled to it, an' we're all right!"
As we gazed at these terror-stricken creatures, a thought occurred to me
on which I promptly acted. "Get both of your revolvers pointed through
that hole," I whispered to Young. "Point high, so that the balls will
not hit anybody; and when I begin to shoot do you shoot also, and as
quickly as you can. Mind, you are not to hit anybody," I added; for I
saw by the look on Young's face that he longed to fire into the crowd
point-blank. For answer he gave me a rather sulky nod of assent; but I
saw by the way that he held his pistols that my order was obeyed. "Now,"
I said, "Fire!"--and as rapidly as self-acting revolvers would do it, we
poured twenty-four shots through the slits in the wall. No doubt several
people were hurt by balls bounding back from the rock, but I am
confident that nobody was killed.
When we ceased firing it was impossible to see anything in the oratory,
because of the dense cloud of sulphurous smoke wherewith it was filled;
but such shrieks and yells of soul-racking terror as came from beneath
that black canopy I hope I may never hear again. I waited a little,
until this wild outburst had somewhat quieted, and then--placing my
mouth close to one of the openings and speaking in a voice that I tried
to make like that of Fray Antonio--I said, in deep and solemn tones,
"Behold the vengeance of the strangers' God!"
What effect my words produced I cannot tell. Our firing must have
loosened a fragment of rock between the gold plating that lined the
oratory and the outer surface of the wall, and even as I spoke this
fragment fell. With its fall the opening was irrevocably closed.
"That was a boss dodge," said Young, as he recharged his revolver.
"Those fellows 'll just think hell's broke loose in here, for sure; and
I guess after they've onct fairly got outside they'll rather be skinned
alive than come back again. But what did you say to 'em? Hearin' you
talkin' like th' Padre, that way, gave me a regular jolt. Don't you
think, though, maybe it was a little bit risky t' give ourselves away?"
But when I had repeated in English the words which I had spoken, Young
very seriously shook hands with me. "Shake!" he said. "I've done you
injustice, Professor. Sometimes I've thought that you was too much
asleep for your own good--but if anybody ever did anything more wide
awake than that, I'd like t' know _what_ he did and who he was. Why,
when those fellows tell about all that's been goin' on in here--about
their busted idol, an' their dead Priest Captain, an' our skippin,' an'
this row our shootin' has made, an' then about th' Padre's ghost talkin'
to 'em that way--it's bound t' give 'em such a jolt that th' whole
outfit 'll slew smack round an' be Christians right off!"
Some such notion as this had been in my own mind as I executed the plan
that on the spur of the moment I had formed. When, later, I thought
about it more calmly, I could not but regret, for Fray Antonio's sake,
my hasty action; for he would have been the very last man to approve of
such stringent methods of advancing the Christian faith. If any result
came from my demonstration, it certainly came through terror; and the
essence of Fray Antonio's doctrine, as it was also of his own nature,
was gentleness and love.
XXXVII.
THROUGH DARKNESS TO LIGHT.
"I guess we're solid now, as far as bein' bothered by those sacred
devils goes," Young said, as we stepped down from the ledge of rock on
which we had been standing; "but this ain't no time t' take no chances,
an' th' sooner we see what show we've got for gettin' anywhere through
that cave, th' better it'll be. An' we've got t' look after Rayburn.
He's closter t' handin' in his checks t'-day than he's been at all. Just
think o' him keepin' still through all that row, an lettin' himself be
yanked around like a bag o' meal without takin' any notice of it! But
there's just a squeal of a chance for him if we do get clear away.
Knowin' that he's safe 'll do him more good, even, than fresh air an'
sunshine--an' oh Lord! how good fresh air an' sunshine 'll be, if ever
we do strike 'em again!"
When we descended the stair-way again to the little hollow in the rock
where Rayburn was lying, we found that he still remained in his dull
stupor and took no notice of our coming. Close beside were Pablo and El
Sabio, huddled together for mutual support in this very trying passage
of their lives. El Sabio, indeed, was a most melancholy and dejected
creature, for his short commons and his long confinement had taken the
spirit out of him pretty thoroughly; but for our purposes just then,
when his tractability was very necessary to us, it was a piece of
good-fortune that he had fallen into so low a way. As for Pablo, the boy
was in so dazed a condition that I feared greatly he would wholly lose
his wits.
There was only a faint suggestion of light in that deeply hidden place,
and Young struck a match that he might see to begin his explorations.
"Well, I'll be shot," he exclaimed, as the wax-taper shed its clear
light around us, "if here ain't a conductor's lantern hangin' up all
ready for us, an' a can o' kerosene oil!" As he lighted the lantern, and
the letters F. C. C. showed clearly on the glass, he added, in a tone of
still greater amazement: "Ferro-Carril Central! Why, it b'longs t' one
o' th' boys on th' Central!--but how th' dickens did it ever get _here_?
An' here's a lot of old clothes--th' sort o' rags th' low-down Greasers
wear. An' I'm blest," he went on, as he picked up a scrap of paper from
the floor, "if this ain't a Mexican Central ticket from Leon to Silao!
It's dated last June, an' it's only punched once, so 't couldn't 'a'
been used all the way. I say, Professor, am I asleep or awake?"
As I examined the several articles which we had come upon so strangely
in this incongruous plate, a flood of light was let in upon my mind, and
with this came also the glad certainty that the way before us to freedom
was open and assured. My belief that the Priest Captain had been in
communication with the outside world no longer admitted of a doubt, for
here was absolute proof of it: the clothes which he wore when making his
expeditions into the nineteenth century; the lantern that he had stolen
in order the more easily to find his way through the cave; the railway
ticket that he had but lately used. In an instant I had connected all
this with what the guardian of the archives had told me concerning the
Priest Captain's habit of retiring for long periods of time to one of
the chambers in which we had been imprisoned, and the whole matter was
as plain to me as day; and I knew now, that in order to guard against
discovery, he, or one of his predecessors, to whom this secret way must
also have been known, had caused to be set in place the fastening by
which the grating could be secured upon its inner side; which fastening,
within that very hour, had been the means of saving our lives.
"Well," said Young, dryly, when I had briefly explained these several
matters, "I guess he won't pull th' wool over nobody's eyes any more!
An' now you an' me 'll do some prospectin'. We must go back upstairs,
before we pull out for good, an' bag what there is there that's worth
carryin' off; but th' first thing t' do is t' get Rayburn where he'll be
comfortable an' safe. Until that's attended to we've got t' be careful
an' go slow; so we'll rouse up this fool of a Pablo, an' get it into his
head that if he hears anybody comin' he's t' knock th' plug from under
Mullins an' let him down, an' then chock him fast with a rock
underneath. It's not likely that anybody _will_ come, an' even if they
do, I don't think that they'll know th' trick about Mullins' tippin',
for that's a point that I'll bet a whole kag o' beer th' Priest Captain
didn't give away t' nobody. I tell you, Professor, there wasn't any
flies on that old man, now was there? He was a wicked old devil, an'
I'm glad I did for him; but he was just an everlastin' keen one, an' a
rustler from th' word go!"
In the dazed condition in which he then was, we scarcely should have
ventured to place Pablo in a position of such grave responsibility had
there been any likelihood of his being called upon to perform the duty
with which we charged him; but we were well satisfied that to the Priest
Captain alone had been known the secret of the sliding door, and that,
consequently, the need for closing the passage leading upward into the
treasure-chamber would not arise. Without any fear for Rayburn's safety;
therefore, we left him lying in the little room at the foot of the
stair-way, and thence went forth through a cleft in the rock--that
seemed to be a natural crevice, where the mountain was split apart--and
so came into a natural cave of such great size that the light of the
lantern was not sufficient to enable us to see its roof nor its farther
wall. Save that the well-defined path that we followed was continuously
steep, we did not find walking difficult, for the fragments of rock with
which the floor of the cave everywhere was strewn had been lifted aside
carefully, so as to make a smooth and easy way. And only in one
place--where for a short distance the path skirted the edge of a black
gulf, in the depths of which we could hear the rush of water--was any
part of it dangerous.
For near an hour we went onward, all the while steadily ascending; and
then, as we turned a corner, we saw a long way before us a faintly
luminous haze. It was so very faint that only by holding the lantern
behind us, and then closing our eyes for a moment, could we assure
ourselves that what we saw really was light at all; but when we turned
another corner, presently, the light, though still faint, was
unmistakable; whereat Young gave a whoop of joy, and we quickened our
steps in our eager longing to behold the sunshine that we knew could not
be far away. Suddenly the path dipped downward, and then another turn
brought us into light so strong that the lantern no longer was needed to
show us where to tread; and by a common impulse we gave a great glad
shout together and went onward at a run; and so, running and shouting
like the crazy creatures that truly for the time being we were, we made
one turn more, and then beheld before us, reaching away broadly and
openly in a fashion to give one a sense of most glorious freedom, a
vastly wide plain, over which everywhere the blessed sunshine blazed
full and strong. As we stood together in the mouth of the cave for a
moment in silence--for no words seemed strong enough to express the
bursting gladness that was in our hearts--two short blasts of a whistle,
wafted upward on the light breeze that was blowing towards us from the
plain, sounded very faintly but clearly in our ears. Young started as he
heard this sound, and as he turned towards me he held out his hand and
said, in a voice that was husky and tremulous, "Professor, that's a
locomotive whistle, an' th' d----n fool is--is whistlin' 'down brakes'!"
And in these curiously chosen, yet not unmeaning words, did we celebrate
our deliverance.
When we returned to Rayburn--and as we now knew the way, and as almost
the whole of it was downhill, our return was accomplished rapidly--some
of the joyous strength that we had gained seemed to be imparted to him.
He opened his eyes as we stooped over him, and there seemed to be more
life in them than there had been through all that day.
"Rouse up, old man!" Young cried cheerily. "We've struck th' trail out
o' this cussed hole at last, an' we're goin' t' hike you right along to
where you'll get some of God's sunshine again, an' some air that's fit
for a white man t' breathe;" which words brought still more light into
Rayburn's eyes, and a little color came into his pale cheeks as we told
him of the open way that we had found to light and life.
"Where's the Padre?" he asked, as we together raised the stretcher,
while Pablo, holding the lantern and leading El Sabio, went on ahead of
us. Fortunately Rayburn could not see Young's face as he answered: "Th'
Padre's--well, th' Padre's just gone on up th' line. You've got t' hold
your jaw, Rayburn. You ain't fit t' talk; an' while we're packin' you
along we can't talk either. Come on, Professor; and you, Pablo," he
added, in his jerky Spanish. "Be careful with that lamp or I'll break
the head of you!"
Although a good third of his flesh had wasted away, Rayburn would have
been a heavy load for us to carry over level ground, even had we been
hale and strong. Worn as we then were by our prison-life, we found
carrying him up that long steep path in the heart of the mountain a
weary work that only the hope and joy that strengthened us enabled us
to accomplish. As it was, we went so slowly, and made so many halts for
rest, that the sun had sunk almost to the level of the distant
mountains, wherewith that great plain was bordered to the westward, when
at last our toilsome journey was at an end. But we thought nothing of
the heaviness of our labor as we saw the glad look that came into his
face when he gazed out over that broad expanse of sunlit landscape, and
snuffed eagerly the sweet fresh air, and so felt his soul grow light
within him as he realized that he once more was safe and free.
In the mouth of the cave--within its shelter, yet where he could see out
freely, and so have constantly in his mind the comforting thought of his
deliverance--we made a bed for him of soft pine-branches, which some
near-by trees gave us; and we took care that this couch should be so
thick and so evenly laid that he would lie easily upon it; for we knew
that many days, perhaps even weeks, must pass before we could venture to
put so heavy a strain upon his strength as would come when we carried
him down that rough mountain-side, and so began our journey towards home.
Fortunately, a little spring came out from the rock, clear and cool,
just inside the cave; and game was so abundant on that mountain-side
that Young came back presently from a foraging expedition with half a
dozen codornices, that he had come so close to as to shoot with his
revolver, and a jack-rabbit that he actually had caught with his hands
as it jumped up almost beneath his feet; which excellent fare made a
most satisfying supper for all of us; and eating it so added to
Rayburn's strength--as we could tell by the fuller tones of his voice,
and by his being able to move a little on his bed without our helping
him--as to rouse in us a warm hope that the death that seemed so near to
him might yet be thrust away. Our chief concern, lest the shock that
would come to him of knowing it should fairly kill him, was to hide from
him for the present the knowledge that Fray Antonio was dead; and to
compass this end we plumply told him the flat-footed lie that the monk
had gone on in search of some town whence he might bring back horses and
supplies; and so, for a time, we laid at rest his doubts.
In his own original way, also, Young tried to put heart into him. "You
see, old man," he said, "you've just _got_ t' pull through. Think how
d----d ashamed o' yourself you'd feel after you was dead when you had t'
tell all th' folks in heaven that you was killed by nothin' better'n a
mis'rable chump of an Injun! That was what bothered poor old Steve
Hollis when he was handin' in _his_ checks--'t least it was th' same
general sort of idea. I guess you never knew Steve, did you, Rayburn? He
was an old railroader--had been a-workin' on th' Old Colony one way and
another for more'n twenty years. When I knowed him he used t' run th'
steamboat express from Boston t' Fall River--their boss train on that
blasted old road. Steve owned a house clost t' th' line just a little
way out o' Braintree; an' when 't was his day off he'd mostly slide down
from Fall River on No. 2, an' walk out home from Braintree along th'
track. Nobody ever know'd just how 't happened--Steve was th' soberest
man I ever knowed; never drunk a drop o' nothin'--but one day, as he was
walkin' out home, No. 15, that was th' slow freight from Boston t'
Newport, ketched him an' got in its work on him--an' that was th' end o'
Steve. It didn't kill him right smack off, an' I went down t' see him;
for I did think th' world of old Steve. He was a-layin' in his bed, an'
I could see that he was a-most gone when I got there; but he chippered
up a little for a minute as I shook hands with him and ast him how he
was. He said he was poorly; an' then he kep' quiet for a while. Then he
kind o' ketched his breath an' seemed t' want t' say somethin'. So I
bent over him, an' he said, in a kind of a whisperin' groan: 'Jus' think
of it, Seth, what did it was th' slow freight! That's what cuts me;
that's what cuts me the worst kind. I wouldn't a-minded if 't had been
th' express--them things will happen, an' they've got t' come. But here
I've been a-railroadin' for more'n twenty year, an' t' think o' _me_
bein' busted by that d----n slow freight!' An' then he turned over, an'
give a sort of a grunt, an' died."
I am not sure that I myself should have selected this particular story
to tell to Rayburn just then; but the moral that it contained
unquestionably was a sound one, and, in a way, was calculated to impress
upon him strongly the conviction that his duty was to get well.
XXXVIII.
KING CHALTZANTZIN'S TREASURE.
Whether or not Young's story had this good effect upon Rayburn, I am not
prepared to say; but it is certain that he slept well that night--his
first good night's sleep for many weeks--and that when morning came he
was so much stronger and brighter as to fill us with a still more
earnest hope that he was well started on the way to recovery.
Young quickly brought in some birds for our breakfast, and when the meal
was finished he took me aside and said: "Now, Professor, lets me an' you
go back t' that hole an' bring away all there is there that's worth
carryin'. It's not much, I guess, but it's better'n nothin'. It just
makes me sick t' think of all that gold, that ud 'a' made our
everlastin' fortunes if we'd only been able t' pack it along with us.
There was millions an' millions there, I s'pose--an' it 'll never do us
any more good than if we'd never seen it at all!" and as Young spoke he
heaved a very melancholy sigh. "But we may as well grab all we can get,"
he went on, more cheerfully. "There was a lot o' gold boxes an' jugs in
th' room where Mullins is; an' maybe there's somethin' that's worth
havin' in all them little pots. Let's go back an' see, anyway. Rayburn's
lookin' almost all right this mornin'; and Pablo's got his wits back
now, an' can give him anything he wants."
For my own part I did not desire, because of their money value, any of
the articles which I had seen in the treasure-chamber; but I did very
earnestly long to possess myself of that most curious arbalest, and I
desired also to examine carefully--because of the discoveries of great
archæological value which I hoped to make--the contents of the gold
boxes and vases and earthen jars. Therefore, Rayburn having expressed
his entire willingness that we should leave him, I assented readily to
Young's proposition; whereupon Young lighted the lantern and we set off.
As we entered again the treasure-chamber there was within me a strong
feeling of awe. During our hurried passage through it, the imminent
danger in which we were, and then the excitement of the scene in the
oratory, and then the joyfulness of our finding a way of escape, had
prevented me from realizing how wonderful was the deposit that this room
contained; a deposit that certainly had lain there for not less than a
thousand years, and that unquestionably was the most perfect surviving
trace of the most intelligent and most interesting people that in
prehistoric times dwelt upon this continent. Which strange reflections,
now that my mind was free to entertain them and to dwell upon them,
aroused within me a feeling of such reverent wonder that I hesitated for
some moments before I could bring myself to disturb what thus through so
long a sweep of ages had remained sacredly inviolate.
But reverence, as he himself would have said, was not Young's strongest
hold; in truth, I am persuaded that there was not an atom of it in his
entire composition; and as I stood hesitating beside the statue of
Chac-Mool he briskly called to me: "Come right along, Professor; there
ain't nobody t' stop us now. We've got th' drop, you might say, on th'
whole outfit, an' we can do just as we blame please. This looks like a
badly kept drug store, don't it?" he went on, "with all these pots an'
boxes an' little jars stuck round on th' shelves. Well, here goes t' see
what's in 'em: not much o' nothin', I guess; but then it _might_ be
di'monds, an' that just would be gay!"
As Young spoke he thrust his hand into one of the earthen jars, and
thereby set flying such a cloud of dust that for some seconds his
violent sneezing prevented him from examining the small object that he
had brought forth from the jar and held in his hand; and when he did
examine this object an expression of intense disgust appeared upon his
face, and he exclaimed, indignantly, "Why, it's nothin' but a fool
arrow-head!"
I could not but laugh at Young as I took the arrow-head from him. For my
purposes, this beautifully carved piece of obsidian was far more
precious than a diamond would have been; and I tried--quite
unsuccessfully, however--to arouse his interest in this proof of the
high degree of skill to which the prehistoric races of America had
attained in the manipulation of an exceedingly hard yet delicate variety
of stone; and I added that not less interesting was the proof thus
afforded us of the great value which these same races attached to
implements of war.
"Oh, come off with your prehistoric races, Professor!" he growled. "A
whole car-load o' rubbish like this wouldn't be worth a nickel t'
anybody but a scientific crank like you. If this is th' sort o' stuff
that that old king o' yours thought was worth hidin', I guess he must
'a' been off his head. But that pot may 'a' got in by mistake. Before I
get too much down on him I'll give him another show." With which words,
but cautiously, that the dust might not be disturbed, he thrust his hand
into another jar, and was mightily resentful upon finding that what he
brought forth from it was only the head of a lance. However, the
determination to give King Chaltzantzin a chance to prove his sanity,
together with the hope that something of real value might be found, led
him to continue his investigations, and he presently had examined all
the jars ranged on two sides of the room; and his grumbling curses
increased constantly in vigor as jar after jar yielded only arrow-heads,
and lance-heads, and chisel-shaped pieces of obsidian, that I perceived
must have been intended for the making of the cutting edges of the
maccahuitl, or Aztec sword; but, for my part, all of these things filled
me with the liveliest pleasure as I took them from Young and attentively
examined them; for the delicate and perfect workmanship that they
exhibited showed them to have been made by a people that had reached the
highest development of the Stone Age.
"This business is gettin' worse, instead o' better," Young said,
gloomily, as he began his search on the third side of the room by
opening one of the small gold boxes. "The stuff in here is nothin' but a
mean sort o' wrappin'-paper with pictures on it--like that old map o'
yours that got us started on this tomfoolin' treasure-hunt. I s'pose
_you'll_ just have a fit over it!" And as I uttered an eager cry of
delight, and bent over this casket that contained such inestimable
riches, he gave a sniff of contempt, and added: "There, I thought so.
You think more o' that rotten old stuff than you would o' gold dollars.
Well, there's no accountin' for tastes, and it takes all sorts o' people
t' make th' world." But I paid no attention to him as I rapidly glanced
over these priceless manuscripts; and then had my cup of happiness
filled absolutely to overflowing by the glad discovery that in every one
of the gold boxes, of which there were nine in all, treasures of a like
sort were stored. In the supplemental volume (in elephant folio) to my
_Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent of North America_ these
wonderful manuscripts are reproduced in fac-simile; and when that great
work is published the surpassing value of my discovery will be at once
recognized. It is sufficient to say here that these several codices
together constituted a complete hieratic chronicle of the Aztec tribes;
and that (herein lying the extraordinary value of the collection) the
uncertain picture-writing was accompanied by a translation into the
ideographic characters of later times, the meaning of which I was
enabled, thanks to the instruction that my friend the guardian of the
archives had given me, fully to understand. In short, my discovery
precisely paralleled that of Boussard; for even as the Rosetta Stone
gave the key to Egyptian hieroglyphics, so did this transliteration into
intelligible characters make all Aztec picture-writing plain. As the
full significance of my discovery burst upon me, my joy and the
excitement of my splendid triumph so moved me that my hands trembled as
I held these precious manuscripts, and I no longer could see clearly the
painted characters because of the tears of happiness which filled my
eyes.
Young, however, whose longing was only for material treasure, continued
his investigations in anything but a thankful mood. "There ain't no
doubt of it _now_," he said presently in a most melancholy tone. "That
old king o' yours must 'a' been just as crazy as a loon. Look here: this
thing ain't even a fool arrow-head; it's nothin' but a bit o' green
glass! I reckon it's part o' th' bottom of a porter-bottle. Nice sort o'
stuff this is t' call treasure, an' t' take such an all-fired lot o'
trouble t' hide away! Why, I should jedge that that king must 'a' spent
most of his time settin' up nights a-puzzlin' over plans for makin' sure
that he was th' very d----dest biggest fool that ever lived!--an' that's
just what he was, for sure! It's tough, gettin' left this way; but it
wouldn't begin t' be as tough as 't is if 't wasn't for all them
car-loads an' car-loads o' gold right clost by us here that we might 'a'
got away with as easy as rollin' off a log if we'd only ketched on to
this back-door racket in time. An' see here, Professor," he went on in a
very earnest tone, "I don't believe there's anybody in there now; why
shouldn't we just chance things a little an' go back an' get some of it?
We've got our guns; an' even if we do strike a crowd too big for us t'
tackle, an' have t' run for it, we won't be no worse off 'an we are now.
Come, let's try it on!"
While Young spoke I had been looking closely at the object that so
violently had excited his indignation, and instead of replying to him I
asked, "Are there any more pieces of that porter-bottle in the jar?"
"It's full of 'em," he answered with a contemptuous brevity.
"And the next?"
"That's full of 'em too. All th' jars on this side o' th' room are full
of 'em," he added, as he rapidly thrust his hand into one after
another--and so set the dust to flying that we both fell to sneezing as
though we would sneeze our heads off. "Oh come along, Professor: what's
th' use o' foolin' over this rubbish; let's go for th' stuff that's good
for its weight in spot cash every time!"
"Wait till we see what is in these gold vases over here," I answered,
turning as I spoke to the side of the room that as yet we had not
examined.
"What's th' good?" he asked, sulkily. But he lifted down one of the
vases, and with his thumb and finger brought forth from it a little
round black ball. "Worse an' worse," he said, as he handed the ball to
me. "We've got down t' what looks like lumps o' shoemaker's wax now.
That's about th' sickest lookin' thing t' call itself treasure I ever
did see!"
It did not seem to me probable that the little ball was shoemaker's wax;
but in order to settle this point experimentally I cut into it with my
penknife. Under the gummy exterior I found a layer of cotton-wool, and
enclosed in this a hard substance about the size of a hazel-nut. While I
was making this examination, Young investigated into the contents of
the remaining vases--which themselves were exceedingly interesting,
being made of hammered gold and most curiously engraved.
"They're no good," he said, "except I s'pose th' mugs must be worth
somethin'. Shoemaker's wax in 'em all! It's worse 'an th'
porter-bottles--for what's th' use o' shoemaker's wax t' folks who don't
rightly know what a shoe is? Come along, I say, Professor, an' let's
have a whack at them piles o' gold. If we don't tackle 'em we might just
as well never have come on this treasure-hunt at all. Some o' the stuff
in here's worth havin'--th' gold mugs an' boxes, an' that old gold
bow-gun that you're so busted about--but what does th' whole of it
amount to, anyway, when you come t' divide it up among four men an' a
jackass? I guess even th' jackass ud turn up his nose at it if he knowed
what a lot more there was that was t' be had just for grabbin' it an'
packin' it along. It's somethin', I s'pose, that we've pulled through
without losin' our hair; but we _have_ pulled through all right, an' now
we want t' make this business pay; an' unless we go for that gold this
business won't 'a' paid worth a cuss--an' instead o' comin' out on top
we'll be left th' very worst kind!"
As Young was delivered of this dismal remonstrance I handed him the
small object that I had extracted from the pitch-coated ball. "Before
you make up your mind that we are likely to be 'left,' as you term it,
suppose you look at this," I said.
He held out his hand carelessly; but as he saw what I had placed in it
his expression suddenly changed, and he burst forth excitedly: "Great
Scott! where did this come from? Why--why, Professor, it _looks_ like it
was a pearl; but if 't truly is one it's about th' bustin'est biggest
one that Godamighty ever made! Do you truly size it up for a pearl
yourself?"
"Most assuredly," I answered. "And it is a fair assumption, I think,
that there is a pearl in each one of all these little pitch-covered
balls. As to what you called bits of green glass, they are neither more
nor less than extraordinarily fine emeralds; I should say that the
smallest of them must be worth more dollars than you could carry at a
single load. Of course, all the emeralds and pearls together are not
worth a single one of these manuscripts"--here Young gave a sceptical
grunt--"but in the way of vulgar material riches I am confident that the
value of what is in these jars is greater than that of all the gold
together that we saw in the Valley of Aztlan. Without a shadow of doubt,
you and I at this moment are standing in the midst of the most enormous
treasure that ever has been brought together since the world was made!"
"Honest Injun, Professor?"
"Certainly," I answered; "and if this is your notion of getting 'left'
on a treasure-hunt," I continued, "it assuredly is not mine."
"Left?" Young repeated after me, while his eyes ranged exultantly over
the rows of jars in which this vast wealth was contained. "Well, I
should smile! I take it all back about that old king bein' crazy. He was
just as level-headed as George Washington an' Dan'l Webster rolled into
one. These pots full of arrow-heads an' such stuff was only one of his
little jokes, showin' that he must 'a' been a good-natured, comical old
cuss, th' kind I always did like, anyway. Left? Not much we ain't left!
We've just everlastin'ly got there with all four feet to onct!
Professor, shake!"
EPILOGUE.
Throughout my whole life I have been saddened, as each well-defined
section of it has come to an end, by the thought that during the period
that has then slipped away from me forever I have wasted more
opportunities than I have improved. As I write these final lines,
therefore, I feel a sorrowful regret, which, in a way, is akin to the
regret that weighed upon me when Young and I, having carried into the
cave the contents of the treasure-chamber, removed the prop wherewith
was upheld the swinging statue, and so suffered to fall into place again
that ponderous mass of stone. From below, where we were, lifting it was
impossible; and by heaping fragments of rock under the forward end of it
we presently made it equally immovable from above. Thus for outlet or
for inlet that way was irrevocable barred; and as I write now I know
that I am not less irrevocable severing myself from one portion of my
past. For, says the Persian poet, "A finished book is a sealed casket.
To it nothing can be added. From it nothing can be taken away.
Therefore should we pray to Allah that its contents may be good."
The record that I am now ending was begun partly that I might find in
the writing of it relief from the more serious work in which I have been
engaged, and partly because I perceived that I could properly include in
a personal narrative many matters which were too trivial or too entirely
personal to be incorporated into my extended scientific treatise, but
which, I was persuaded, were of a sufficient interest to be preserved.
But I certainly should not have finished this history of our adventures
nearly so expeditiously had not Rayburn and Young taken a very lively
interest in it, and pressed me constantly to bring it to an end.
"You see, Professor," said Young, "I don't want t' say anything against
that big book you're writin'. I don't doubt that in its way it'll be a
daisy; but you know yourself there won't be more'n about three cranks in
th' whole o' God's universe who'll ever read more'n about ten lines of
it; an' that's why I want you t' rush ahead with th' little book--that
stands some chance o' bein' read outside o' lunatic asylums--so's
folks'll know what a powerful queer time we've had. Don't be too cussed
particular t' say just where that valley is--for, while it's not likely,
we might want t' take a fightin' crowd along an' dynamite our way back
there some day after more cash; but, exceptin' that, just give 'em th'
cold facts. I reckon they'll make some folks open their eyes."
From times to time, as my narrative has grown beneath my hand, I have
read aloud to my fellow-adventurers what I have written, and have
received from them suggestions in accordance with which it has been
corrected or amended in its several parts; and it is but just to add, in
this connection, that in every case where I have referred (as it seems
to me now in words not nearly strong enough) to the loyalty to our
common interests, and to the splendid bravery which Rayburn and Young
constantly exhibited throughout that trying time, I have been compelled
to exert the whole of my authority over them in order to win their
grumbling permission that my words might stand. Even Pablo--for the love
that there was between this boy and me was far too strong to permit me
to leave him behind in Mexico, and we are like to live together as long
as we live at all--has taken issue with me concerning what I have
written of his steadfast faithfulness and courage; and this on the
ground that he could not possibly be anything but faithful to those whom
he loved, and that it is only natural for a man to fight for his own
life, and for the lives of his friends. In thus applying the word
_hombre_ to himself Pablo spoke a little doubtfully, as though he feared
that I might question his right to it; yet did he roll it so relishingly
under his tongue, and so well had he proved his manliness, that I
suffered it to pass.
In point of fact, the only member of our party who has accepted my just
tribute of praise with entire equanimity has been El Sabio. It was
Pablo's notion, of course, that El Sabio should hear what I had written
about him. "Not the whole of it, you know, señor," the boy said,
earnestly; "for some of what you have written--while I know that it is
true, and therefore must be told--would hurt his tender heart. It was
not his fault--the angel!--that he gave us so much trouble when we swung
him across the cañon; and to tell him that there was even a thought of
eating him, while we were in that dreadful valley where every one was
dead, assuredly would turn him gray before his time. No; we will hide
all such unpleasant parts of the book from him; but we will read to him
what you have said concerning his beauty and his wisdom--and, surely,
you might have said of those a great deal more; and also about his
gallant fight with the priests, when, all alone, he slew so many of them
with his heels. And it would have been fairer to El Sabio, señor," Pablo
added, a little reproachfully, as we walked out together to the paddock
in which the ass, grown to be very fat, was living a life of most royal
ease, "had you told in the book how well he served us in bringing all
the treasure, in many weary journeys, out through that dismal cave; and
also how carefully he carried the Señor Rayburn down that steep
mountain-side, and so to the little town beside the railway, and never
hurt his wound."
However, El Sabio did not seem to notice these omissions from my
narrative, though he certainly did exhibit a most curious air of
interest and understanding as I read to him those laudatory portions of
it which Pablo desired that he should hear. According to Pablo's
understanding of his language, he even thanked me for speaking well of
him; for when the reading was ended he thrust his nose far forward, laid
his long ears back upon his neck, planted his little legs firmly, and
as he erected in triumph his scrag of a tail, he uttered a most
thunderous bray. "And now, Wise One," Pablo said, tenderly, as he
infolded the head of the ass in his arms and hugged it to his breast,
"thou knowest that we not only love thee for thy goodness and thy
wisdom, but that we also honor thee for thy noble deeds."
Rayburn's fancy was mightily tickled by this performance in which El
Sabio and Pablo and I had engaged--though Young evidently thought it but
another proof of the addled state of my brains--when I told about it
that evening as we all sat smoking comfortably in my library before the
open fire. This was to be our last meeting for some time to come; for
Rayburn was to start the next day for Idaho to look after some mining
matters, and Young suddenly had decided that he would accompany him. In
truth, Young was rather at a loss to know what to do with himself; for
his plan for buying the Old Colony Railroad, in order to be in a
position to discharge its superintendent, had been abandoned. "I'd like
t' do it, of course," he said. "Bouncin' that chump th' same way that he
bounced me would do me a lot o' good; but I've made up my mind it
wouldn't be th' square thing t' do, considerin' that if he hadn't
bounced me I'd still be foolin' round on top o' freight-cars, in all
sorts o' weather, handlin' brakes. So I've let up on him, an' he can
stay. What I want now is t' do some good with this all-fired big pile o'
money that I've got. That's one reason why I'm goin' out with Rayburn t'
Idaho. Right straight along from here t' Boisé City I mean t' set up
drinks for every railroader I meet. That'll be doin' good, for sure."
[Illustration: IN THE LIBRARY BEFORE THE OPEN FIRE]
Rayburn and I laughed a little at this odd method for benefiting
humanity that Young had got hold of; and then Rayburn's face grew grave
as he said: "Well, we're doing a little good, I suppose, in putting that
old church in Morelia in good shape. I'm glad you thought of that,
Professor. I don't suppose that anything we could have done would have
pleased the Padre more than to have that church, that he loved so much,
made as handsome as money can make it all the way through."
"Yes," Young added, "an' I guess th' Professor's head was level in
havin' all th' new stuff that we've put in it made t' look like 't was
about two hundred years old. I did kick at that at first, I'll allow.
What I wanted t' do was t' build a first-class new church, with a
rattlin' tall steeple, an' steam heat, an' electric lights, an' an organ
big enough t' bust the roof off every time she was played. But th' Padre
was as keen as th' Professor, a'most, for old-fashioned things; an' so I
guess we've done that job just about as he'd 'a' done it himself. It
makes me feel queer, though, puttin' up money on a Catholic church that
way; an' when I was tellin' an old aunt o' mine, down t' Milton, about
it, she just riz up an' rared. An' she didn't feel a bit better when I
told her that if I thought it ud please th' Padre t' have me do it, I'd
go smack off t' Rome an' shake hands with th' Pope. And I truly would do
that very same thing," Young continued, earnestly, while his voice
trembled a little, "for this side o' heaven I never expect t' meet
anybody that's so near t' bein' a first-class angel as th' Padre was.
An' when I think how he saved our mis'rable lives for us, as he surely
did, by givin' away his own--that was worth more'n all of ours put
together, an' ten times over--I don't care a continental what his
religious politics was; an' I'll punch th' head of anybody who don't say
that he was th' pluckiest an' th' best man that ever lived!"
Pablo had caught the word Padre in Young's talk, and as the lad looked
up from the corner in which he was sitting, I saw that his eyes were
full of tears; Rayburn's eyes also had an odd glistening look about them
as he turned away suddenly, and emptied the ashes from his pipe into the
fire; and I know that I could not see very clearly just then, as very
tender, yet very poignant memories surged suddenly into my heart.
And when the others left me--as they did presently, for we could not
fall again into commonplace talk--I bade Pablo be off to bed, and so sat
there for a while alone. What I had planned to do that night was to
revise an address that I was shortly to deliver before the Archæological
Institute; but the pen that I had taken into my hand lay idle there,
while my thoughts went backward through the channels of the past.
In that still season of darkness I seemed to live again through all the
time that Fray Antonio and I had been together--from the moment when I
first caught sight of him, as he knelt before the crucifix in the
sacristy, to my last sad look at the dead body whence his soul had sped
back again to God.
As my thoughts dwelt upon this most loving and most tender
companionship, the like of which for perfectness I am confident was
never known, and then upon the cruel violence that brought it to an end,
so searching a pain went through my soul that I knew that either it must
cease or I must die of it in a very little while. And then was borne in
upon me the strong conviction--and so has it since been always, when
thus my thoughts have been engaged--that because of my very love for
Fray Antonio must I rejoice that he had died so savage a death;
believing confidently that what he prayed for when first I found him in
the Christian church of San Francisco was, in truth, that very crown of
martyrdom that God granted to him when at last I lost him in the heathen
city of Colhuacan. And with the pressing in upon me thus strangely of
this strange thought, it seemed as though he himself said again to me,
"I go to win the life, glorious and eternal, into which neither death
nor sin nor sorrow evermore can come."
THE END.
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