CHAPTER XXIV
THE NIGHT OF FEAR
Long before I awoke that day the commands of the council had beencarried out, and the bridges in the great causeways were broken downwherever dykes crossed the raised roads that ran through the waters ofthe lake. That afternoon also I went dressed as an Indian warrior withGuatemoc and the other generals, to a parley which was held with Cortes,who took his stand on the same tower of the palace that Montezuma hadstood on when the arrow of Guatemoc struck him down. There is little tobe said of this parley, and I remember it chiefly because it was thenfor the first time since I had left the Tobascans that I saw Marinaclose, and heard her sweet and gentle voice. For now as ever she was bythe side of Cortes, translating his proposals of peace to the Aztecs.Among those proposals was one which showed me that de Garcia had notbeen idle. It asked that the false white man who had been rescued fromthe altars of the gods upon the teocalli should be given in exchange forcertain Aztec prisoners, in order that he might be hung according tohis merits as a spy and deserter, a traitor to the emperor of Spain. Iwondered as I heard, if Marina knew when she spoke the words, that 'thefalse white man' was none other than the friend of her Tobascan days.
'You see that you are fortunate in having found place among us Aztecs,Teule,' said Guatemoc with a laugh, 'for your own people would greet youwith a rope.'
Then he answered Cortes, saying nothing of me, but bidding him and allthe Spaniards prepare for death:
'Many of us have perished,' he said; 'you also must perish, Teules. Youshall perish of hunger and thirst, you shall perish on the altars of thegods. There is no escape for you Teules; the bridges are broken.'
And all the multitude took up the words and thundered out, 'There is noescape for you Teules; the bridges are broken!'
Then the shooting of arrows began, and I sought the palace to tellOtomie my wife what I had gathered of the state of her father Montezuma,who the Spaniards said still lay dying, and of her two sisters who werehostages in their quarters. Also I told her how my surrender had beensought, and she kissed me, and said smiling, that though my life was nowburdened with her, still it was better so than that I should fall intothe hands of the Spaniards.
Two days later came the news that Montezuma was dead, and shortly afterit his body, which the Spaniards handed over to the Aztecs for burial,attired in the gorgeous robes of royalty. They laid it in the hall ofthe palace, whence it was hurried secretly and at night to Chapoltepec,and there hidden away with small ceremony, for it was feared that thepeople might rend it limb from limb in their rage. With Otomie weepingat my side, I looked for the last time on the face of that most unhappyking, whose reign so glorious in its beginning had ended thus. And whileI looked I wondered what suffering could have equalled his, as fallenfrom his estate and hated by the subjects whom he had betrayed, he laydying, a prisoner in the power of the foreign wolves who were tearingout his country's heart. It is little wonder indeed that Montezumarent the bandages from his wounds and would not suffer them to tend hishurts. For the real hurt was in his soul; there the iron had entereddeeply, and no leech could cure it except one called Death. And yetthe fault was not all his, the devils whom he worshipped as gods wererevenged upon him, for they had filled him with the superstitions oftheir wicked faith, and because of these the gods and their high priestmust sink into a common ruin. Were it not for these unsubstantialterrors that haunted him, the Spaniards had never won a foothold inTenoctitlan, and the Aztecs would have remained free for many a year tocome. But Providence willed it otherwise, and this dead and disgracedmonarch was but its instrument.
Such were the thoughts that passed through my mind as I gazed upon thebody of the great Montezuma. But Otomie, ceasing from her tears, kissedhis clay and cried aloud:
'O my father, it is well that you are dead, for none who loved youcould desire to see you live on in shame and servitude. May the gods youworshipped give me strength to avenge you, or if they be no gods, thenmay I find it in myself. I swear this, my father, that while a man isleft to me I will not cease from seeking to avenge you.'
Then taking my hand, without another word she turned and passed thence.As will be seen, she kept her oath.
On that day and on the morrow there was fighting with the Spaniards, whosallied out to fill up the gaps in the dykes of the causeway, a taskin which they succeeded, though with some loss. But it availed themnothing, for so soon as their backs were turned we opened the dykesagain. It was on these days that for the first time I had experience ofwar, and armed with my bow made after the English pattern, I did goodservice. As it chanced, the very first arrow that I drew was on my hatedfoe de Garcia, but here my common fortune pursued me, for being out ofpractice, or over-anxious, I aimed too high, though the mark was an easyone, and the shaft pierced the iron of his casque, causing him to reelin his saddle, but doing him no further hurt. Still this marksmanship,poor as it was, gained me great renown among the Aztecs, who were butfeeble archers, for they had never before seen an arrow pierce throughthe Spanish mail. Nor would mine have done so had I not collected theiron barbs off the crossbow bolts of the Spaniards, and fitted them tomy own shafts. I seldom found the mail that would withstand arrows madethus, when the range was short and the aim good.
After the first day's fight I was appointed general over a body of threethousand archers, and was given a banner to be borne before me and agorgeous captain's dress to wear. But what pleased me better was a chainshirt which came from the body of a Spanish cavalier. For many years Ialways wore this shirt beneath my cotton mail, and it saved my life morethan once, for even bullets would not pierce the two of them.
I had taken over the command of my archers but forty-eight hours, ascant time in which to teach them discipline whereof they had little,though they were brave enough, when the occasion came to use them ingood earnest, and with it the night of disaster that is still knownamong the Spaniards as the noche triste. On the afternoon before thatnight a council was held in the palace at which I spoke, saying, I wascertain that the Teules thought of retreat from the city, and in thedark, for otherwise they would not have been so eager to fill up thecanals in the causeway. To this Cuitlahua, who now that Montezumawas dead would be emperor, though he was not yet chosen and crowned,answered that it might well be that the Teules meditated flight, butthat they could never attempt it in the darkness, since in so doing theymust become entangled in the streets and dykes.
I replied that though it was not the Aztec habit to march and fight atnight, such things were common enough among white men as they had seenalready, and that because the Spaniards knew it was not their habit,they would be the more likely to attempt escape under cover of thedarkness, when they thought their enemies asleep. Therefore I counselledthat sentries should be set at all the entrances to every causeway.To this Cuitlahua assented, and assigned the causeway of Tlacopan toGuatemoc and myself, making us the guardians of its safety. That nightGuatemoc and I, with some soldiers, went out towards midnight to visitthe guard that we had placed upon the causeway. It was very dark and afine rain fell, so that a man could see no further before his eyesthan he can at evening through a Norfolk roke in autumn. We found andrelieved the guard, which reported that all was quiet, and we werereturning towards the great square when of a sudden I heard a dull soundas of thousands of men tramping.
'Listen,' I said.
'It is the Teules who escape,' whispered Guatemoc.
Quickly we ran to where the street from the great square opens on tothe causeway, and there even through the darkness and rain we caught thegleam of armour. Then I cried aloud in a great voice, 'To arms! To arms!The Teules escape by the causeway of Tlacopan.'
Instantly my words were caught up by the sentries and passed from postto post till the city rang with them. They were cried in every streetand canal, they echoed from the roofs of houses, and among the summitsof a hundred temples. The city awoke with a murmur, from the lake camethe sound of water beaten by ten thousand oars, as though myriads ofwild-fowl had spru
ng suddenly from their reedy beds. Here, there, andeverywhere torches flashed out like falling stars, wild notes were blownon horns and shells, and above all arose the booming of the snakeskindrum which the priests upon the teocalli beat furiously.
Presently the murmur grew to a roar, and from this direction and fromthat, armed men poured towards the causeway of Tlacopan. Some came onfoot, but the most of them were in canoes which covered the watersof the lake further than the ear could hear. Now the Spaniards tothe number of fifteen hundred or so, accompanied by some six or eightthousand Tlascalans, were emerging on the causeway in a long thin line.Guatemoc and I rushed before them, collecting men as we went, till wecame to the first canal, where canoes were already gathering by scores.The head of the Spanish column reached the canal and the fight began,which so far as the Aztecs were concerned was a fray without plan ororder, for in that darkness and confusion the captains could notsee their men or the men hear their captains. But they were there incountless numbers and had only one desire in their breasts, to kill theTeules. A cannon roared, sending a storm of bullets through us, and byits flash we saw that the Spaniards carried a timber bridge with them,which they were placing across the canal. Then we fell on them, everyman fighting for himself. Guatemoc and I were swept over that bridge bythe first rush of the enemy, as leaves are swept in a gale, and thoughboth of us won through safely we saw each other no more that night. Withus and after us came the long array of Spaniards and Tlascalans,and from every side the Aztecs poured upon them, clinging to theirstruggling line as ants cling to a wounded worm.
How can I tell all that came to pass that night? I cannot, for I sawbut little of it. All I know is that for two hours I was fighting likea madman. The foe crossed the first canal, but when all were over thebridge was sunk so deep in the mud that it could not be stirred, andthree furlongs on ran a second canal deeper and wider than the first.Over this they could not cross till it was bridged with the dead. Itseemed as though all hell had broken loose upon that narrow ridge ofground. The sound of cannons and of arquebusses, the shrieks of agonyand fear, the shouts of the Spanish soldiers, the war-cries of theAztecs, the screams of wounded horses, the wail of women, the hiss ofhurtling darts and arrows, and the dull noise of falling blows went upto heaven in one hideous hurly-burly. Like a frightened mob of cattlethe long Spanish array swayed this way and that, bellowing as it swayed.Many rolled down the sides of the causeway to be slaughtered in thewater of the lake, or borne away to sacrifice in the canoes, many weredrowned in the canals, and yet more were trampled to death in the mud.Hundreds of the Aztecs perished also, for the most part beneath theweapons of their own friends, who struck and shot not knowing on whomthe blow should fall or in whose breast the arrow would find its home.
For my part I fought on with a little band of men who had gathered aboutme, till at last the dawn broke and showed an awful sight. The most ofthose who were left alive of the Spaniards and their allies had crossedthe second canal upon a bridge made of the dead bodies of their fellowsmixed up with a wreck of baggage, cannon, and packages of treasure. Nowthe fight was raging beyond it. A mob of Spaniards and Tlascalans werestill crossing the second breach, and on these I fell with such menas were with me. I plunged right into the heart of them, and suddenlybefore me I saw the face of de Garcia. With a shout I rushed at him. Heheard my voice and knew me. With an oath he struck at my head. The heavysword came down upon my helmet of painted wood, shearing away one sideof it and felling me, but ere I fell I smote him on the breast with theclub I carried, tumbling him to the earth. Now half stunned and blindedI crept towards him through the press. All that I could see was a gleamof armour in the mud. I threw myself upon it, gripping at the wearer'sthroat, and together we rolled down the side of the causeway into theshallow water at the edge of the lake. I was uppermost, and with afierce joy I dashed the blood from my eyes that I might see to kill myenemy caught at last. His body was in the lake but his head lay upon thesloping bank, and my plan was to hold him beneath the water till he wasdrowned, for I had lost my club.
'At length, de Garcia!' I cried in Spanish as I shifted my grip.
'For the love of God let me go!' gasped a rough voice beneath me. 'Fool,I am no Indian dog.'
Now I peered into the man's face bewildered. I had seized de Garcia, butthe voice was not his voice, nor was the face his face, but that of arough Spanish soldier.
'Who are you?' I asked, slackening my hold. 'Where is de Garcia--he whomyou name Sarceda?'
'Sarceda? I don't know. A minute ago he was on his back on the causeway.The fellow pulled me down and rolled behind me. Let me be I say. I amnot Sarceda, and if I were, is this a time to settle private quarrels?I am your comrade, Bernal Diaz. Holy Mother! who are you? An Aztec whospeaks Castilian?'
'I am no Aztec,' I answered. 'I am an Englishman and I fight with theAztecs that I may slay him whom you name Sarceda. But with you I have noquarrel, Bernal Diaz. Begone and escape if you can. No, I will keep thesword with your leave.'
'Englishman, Spaniard, Aztec, or devil,' grunted the man as he drewhimself from his bed of ooze, 'you are a good fellow, and I promise youthat if I live through this, and it should ever come about that I getYOU by the throat, I will remember the turn you did me. Farewell;' andwithout more ado he rushed up the bank and plunged into a knot of hisflying countrymen, leaving his good sword in my hand. I strove to followhim that I might find my enemy, who once more had escaped me by craft,but my strength failed me, for de Garcia's sword had bitten deep and Ibled much. So I must sit where I was till a canoe came and bore me backto Otomie to be nursed, and ten days went by before I could walk again.
This was my share in the victory of the noche triste. Alas! it was abarren triumph, though more than five hundred of the Spaniards wereslain and thousands of their allies. For there was no warlike skill ordiscipline among the Aztecs, and instead of following the Spaniards tillnot one of them remained alive, they stayed to plunder the dead and dragaway the living to sacrifice. Also this day of revenge was a sad oneto Otomie, seeing that two of her brothers, Montezuma's sons whom theSpaniards held in hostage, perished with them in the fray.
As for de Garcia I could not learn what had become of him, nor whetherhe was dead or living.