CHAPTER XXXI
OTOMIE PLEADS WITH HER PEOPLE
When I awoke it was to find myself in a cave, where the light shone verydimly. Otomie leant over me, and not far away a man was cooking a potover a fire made of dry aloe leaves.
'Where am I and what has happened?' I asked.
'You are safe, beloved,' she answered, 'at least for awhile. When youhave eaten I will tell you more.'
She brought me broth and food and I ate eagerly, and when I wassatisfied she spoke.
'You remember how the Tlascalan followed us and how--I was rid of him?'
'I remember, Otomie, though how you found strength to kill him I do notunderstand.'
'Love and despair gave it to me, and I pray that I may never have suchanother need. Do not speak of it, husband, for this is more horrible tome than all that has been before. One thing comforts me, however; I didnot kill him, the sword twisted in my hand and I believe that he wasbut stunned. Then we fled a little way, and looking back I saw that twoother Tlascalans, companions of the senseless man, were following usand him. Presently, they came up to where he lay and stared at him. Thenthey started on our tracks, running hard, and very soon they must havecaught us, for now you could scarcely stir, your mind was gone, and Ihad no more strength to carry you. Still we stumbled on till presently,when the pursuers were within fifty paces of us, I saw armed men, eightof them, rushing at us from the bushes. They were of my own people, theOtomies, soldiers that had served under you, who watched the Spanishcamp, and seeing a Spaniard alone they came to slay him. They verynearly did so indeed, for at first I was so breathless that I couldscarcely speak, but at last in few words I made shift to declare my nameand rank, and your sad plight. By now the two Tlascalans were upon us,and I called to the men of the Otomie to protect us, and falling on theTlascalans before they knew that enemies were there, they killed one ofthem and took the other prisoner. Then they made a litter, and placingyou on it, bore you without rest twenty leagues into the mountains, tillthey reached this secret hiding place, and here you have lain three daysand nights. The Teules have searched for you far and wide, but they havesearched in vain. Only yesterday two of them with ten Tlascalans, passedwithin a hundred paces of this cave and I had much ado to prevent ourpeople from attacking them. Now they are gone whence they came, and Ithink that we are safe for a time. Soon you will be better and we can gohence.'
'Where can we go to, Otomie? We are birds without a nest.'
'We must seek shelter in the City of Pines, or fly across the water;there is no other choice, husband.'
'We cannot try the sea, Otomie, for all the ships that come here areSpanish, and I do not know how they will greet us in the City of Pinesnow that our cause is lost, and with it so many thousands of theirwarriors.'
'We must take the risk, husband. There are still true hearts in Anahuac,who will stand by us in our sorrow and their own. At the least we haveescaped from greater dangers. Now let me dress your wounds and restawhile.'
So for three more days I lay in the cave of the mountains and Otomietended me, and at the end of that time my state was such that I couldtravel in a litter, though for some weeks I was unable to set foot tothe ground. On the fourth day we started by night, and I was carried onmen's shoulders till at length we passed up the gorge that leads to theCity of Pines. Here we were stopped by sentries to whom Otomie told ourtale, bidding some of them go forward and repeat it to the captains ofthe city. We followed the messengers slowly, for my bearers were weary,and came to the gates of the beautiful town just as the red rays ofsunset struck upon the snowy pinnacle of Xaca that towers behind it,turning her cap of smoke to a sullen red, like that of molten iron.
The news of our coming had spread about, and here and there knots ofpeople were gathered to watch us pass. For the most part they stoodsilent, but now and again some woman whose husband or son had perishedin the siege, would hiss a curse at us.
Alas! how different was our state this day to what it had been when nota year before we entered the City of Pines for the first time. Then wewere escorted by an army ten thousand strong, then musicians had sungbefore us and our path was strewn with flowers. And now! Now we came twofugitives from the vengeance of the Teules, I borne in a litter by fourtired soldiers, while Otomie, the princess of this people, still clad inher wanton's robe, at which the women mocked, for she had been able tocome by no other, tramped at my side, since there were none to carryher, and the inhabitants of the place cursed us as the authors of theirwoes. Nor did we know if they would stop at words.
At length we crossed the square beneath the shadow of the teocalli, andreached the ancient and sculptured palace as the light failed, and thesmoke on Xaca, the holy hill, began to glow with the fire in its heart.Here small preparation had been made to receive us, and that night wesupped by the light of a torch upon tortillas or meal cakes and water,like the humblest in the land. Then we crept to our rest, and as I layawake because of the pain of my hurts, I heard Otomie, who thought thatI slept, break into low sobbing at my side. Her proud spirit was humbledat last, and she, whom I had never known to weep except once, when ourfirstborn died in the siege, wept bitterly.
'Why do you sorrow thus, Otomie?' I asked at length.
'I did not know that you were awake, husband,' she sobbed in answer,'or I would have checked my grief. Husband, I sorrow over all that hasbefallen us and my people--also, though these are but little things,because you are brought low and treated as a man of no estate, and ofthe cold comfort that we find here.'
'You have cause, wife,' I answered. 'Say, what will these Otomies dowith us--kill us, or give us up to the Teules?'
'I do not know; to-morrow we shall learn, but for my part I will not besurrendered living.'
'Nor I, wife. Death is better than the tender mercies of Cortes and hisminister, de Garcia. Is there any hope?'
'Yes, there is hope, beloved. Now the Otomie are cast down and theyremember that we led the flower of their land to death. But they arebrave and generous at heart, and if I can touch them there, all may yetbe well. Weariness, pain and memory make us weak, who should be full ofcourage, having escaped so many ills. Sleep, my husband, and leave me tothink. All shall yet go well, for even misfortune has an end.'
So I slept, and woke in the morning somewhat refreshed and with ahappier mind, for who is there that is not bolder when the light shineson him and he is renewed by rest?
When I opened my eyes the sun was already high, but Otomie had risenwith the dawn and she had not been idle during those three hours.For one thing she had contrived to obtain food and fresh raiment morebefitting to our rank than the rags in which we were clothed. Also shehad brought together certain men of condition who were friendly andloyal to her in misfortune, and these she sent about the city, lettingit be known that she would address the people at mid-day from the stepsof the palace, for as Otomie knew well, the heartstrings of a crowd aretouched more easily than those of cold and ancient counsellors.
'Will they come to listen?' I asked.
'Have no fear,' she answered. 'The desire to look upon us who havesurvived the siege, and to know the truth of what has happened, willbring them. Moreover, some will be there seeking vengeance on us.'
Otomie was right, for as the morning drew on towards mid-day, I saw thedwellers in the City of Pines gathering in thousands, till the spacebetween the steps of the palace and the face of the pyramid was blackwith them. Now Otomie combed her curling hair and placed flowers in it,and set a gleaming feather cloak about her shoulders, so that it hungdown over her white robes, and on her breast that splendid necklace ofemeralds which Guatemoc had given to me in the treasure chamber, andwhich she had preserved safely through all our evil fortune, and agolden girdle about her waist. In her hand also she took a littlesceptre of ebony tipped with gold, that was in the palace, with otherornaments and emblems of rank, and thus attired, though she was wornwith travel and suffering, and grief had dimmed her beauty for a while,she seemed the queenliest woman that my ey
es have seen. Next she causedme to be laid upon my rude litter, and when the hour of noon was come,she commanded those soldiers who had borne me across the mountains tocarry me by her side. Thus we issued from the wide doorway of the palaceand took our stand upon the platform at the head of the steps. As wecame a great cry rose from the thousands of the people, a fierce crylike that of wild beasts howling for their prey. Higher and higher itrose, a sound to strike terror into the bravest heart, and by degrees Icaught its purport.
'Kill them!' said the cry. 'Give the liars to the Teules.'
Otomie stepped forward to the edge of the platform, and lifting theebony sceptre she stood silent, the sunlight beating on her lovely faceand form. But the multitude screamed a thousand taunts and threats atus, and still the tumult grew. Once they rushed towards her as thoughto tear her to pieces, but fell back at the last stair, as a wave fallsfrom a rock, and once a spear was thrown that passed between her neckand shoulder.
Now the soldiers who had carried me, making certain that our death wasat hand, and having no wish to share it, set my litter down upon thestones and slipped back into the palace, but all this while Otomie neverso much as moved, no, not even when the spear hissed past her. She stoodbefore them stately and scornful, a very queen among women, and littleby little the majesty of her presence and the greatness of her couragehushed them to silence. When there was quiet at length, she spoke in aclear voice that carried far.
'Am I among my own people of the Otomie?' she asked bitterly, 'or havewe lost our path and wandered perchance among some savage Tlascalantribe? Listen, people of the Otomie. I have but one voice and none canreason with a multitude. Choose you a tongue to speak for you, and lethim set out the desire of your hearts.'
Now the tumult began again, for some shouted one name and some another,but in the end a priest and noble named Maxtla stepped forward, a manof great power among the Otomie, who, above all had favoured an alliancewith the Spaniards and opposed the sending of an army to aid Guatemocin the defence of Tenoctitlan. Nor did he come alone, for with him werefour chiefs, whom by their dress I knew to be Tlascalans and envoys fromCortes. Then my heart sank, for it was not difficult to guess the objectof their coming.
'Speak on, Maxtla,' said Otomie, 'for we must hear what there is for usto answer, and you, people of the Otomie, I pray you keep silence, thatyou may judge between us when there is an end of talking.'
Now a great silence fell upon the multitude, who pressed together likesheep in a pen, and strained their ears to catch the words of Maxtla.
'My speech with you, princess, and the Teule your outlawed husband,shall be short and sharp,' he began roughly. 'A while hence you camehither to seek an army to aid Cuitlahua, Emperor of the Aztecs, in hisstruggle with the Teules, the sons of Quetzal. That army was given you,against the wishes of many of us, for you won over the council by thehoney of your words, and we who urged caution, or even an alliance withthe white men, the children of god, were overruled. You went hence,and twenty thousand men, the flower of our people, followed you toTenoctitlan. Where are they now? I will tell you. Some two hundred ofthem have crept back home, the rest fly to and fro through the air inthe gizzards of the zaphilotes, or crouch on the earth in the belliesof jackals. Death has them all, and you led them to their deaths. Is itthen much that we should seek the lives of you two in payment for thoseof twenty thousand of our sons, our husbands, and our fathers? But we donot even ask this. Here beside me stand ambassadors from Malinche, thecaptain of the Teules, who reached our city but an hour ago. This is thedemand that they bring from Malinche, and in his own words:
'"Deliver back to me Otomie, the daughter of Montezuma, and the renegadeher paramour, who is known as Teule, and who has fled from the justicedue to his crimes, and it shall be well with you, people of the Otomie.Hide them or refuse to deliver them, and the fate of the City of Pinesshall be as the fate of Tenoctitlan, queen of the valley. Choose thenbetween my love and my wrath, people of the Otomie. If you obey, thepast shall be forgiven and my yoke will be light upon you; if yourefuse, your city shall be stamped flat and your very name wiped out ofthe records of the world."
'Say, messengers of Malinche, are not these the words of Malinche?'
'They are his very words, Maxtla,' said the spokesman of the embassy.
Now again there was a tumult among the people, and voices cried, 'Givethem up, give them to Malinche as a peace offering.' Otomie stoodforward to speak and it died away, for all desired to hear her words.Then she spoke:
'It seems, people of the Otomie, that I am on my trial before my ownvassals, and my husband with me. Well, I will plead our cause as well asa woman may, and having the power, you shall judge between us and Maxtlaand his allies, Malinche and the Tlascalans. What is our offence? It isthat we came hither by the command of Cuitlahua to seek your aid in hiswar with the Teules. What did I tell you then? I told you that if thepeople of Anahuac would not stand together against the white men, theymust be broken one by one like the sticks of an unbound faggot, and castinto the flames. Did I speak lies? Nay, I spoke truth, for throughthe treason of her tribes, and chiefly through the treason of theTlascalans, Anahuac is fallen, and Tenoctitlan is a ruin sown with deadlike a field with corn.'
'It is true,' cried a voice.
'Yes, people of the Otomie, it is true, but I say that had all thewarriors of the nations of Anahuac played the part that your sonsplayed, the tale had run otherwise. They are dead, and because of theirdeath you would deliver us to our foes and yours, but I for one do notmourn them, though among their number are many of my kin. Nay, be notwroth, but listen. It is better that they should lie dead in honour,having earned for themselves a wreath of fame, and an immortal dwellingin the Houses of the Sun, than that they should live to be slaves, whichit seems is your desire, people of the Otomie. There is no false wordin what I said to you. Now the sticks that Malinche has used to beat outthe brains of Guatemoc shall be broken and burnt to cook the pot of theTeules. Already these false children are his slaves. Have you not heardhis command, that the tribes his allies shall labour in the quarries andthe streets till the glorious city which he has burned rises afresh uponthe face of the waters? Will you not hasten to take your share in thework, people of the Otomie, the work that knows no rest and no rewardexcept the lash of the overseer and the curse of the Teule? Surely youwill hasten, people of the mountains! Your hands are shaped to the spadeand the trowel, not to the bow and the spear, and it will be sweeter totoil to do the will and swell the wealth of Malinche in the sun of thevalley or the shadow of the mine, than to bide here free upon your hillswhere as yet no foe has set his foot!'
Again she paused, and a murmur of doubt and unrest went through thethousands who listened. Maxtla stepped forward and would have spoken,but the people shouted him down, crying: 'Otomie, Otomie! Let us hearthe words of Otomie.'
'I thank you, my people,' she said, 'for I have still much to tell you.Our crime is then, that we drew an army after us to fight against theTeules. And how did we draw this army? Did I command you to muster yourarray? Nay, I set out my case and I said "Now choose." You chose, and ofyour own free will you despatched those glorious companies that now aredead. My crime is therefore that you chose wrongly as you say, but as Istill hold, most rightly, and because of this crime I and my husband areto be given as a peace offering to the Teules. Listen: let me tell yousomething of those wars in which we have fought before you give us tothe Teules and our mouths are silent for ever. Where shall I begin? Iknow not. Stay, I bore a child--had he lived he would have been yourprince to-day. That child I saw starve to death before my eyes, inch byinch and day by day I saw him starve. But it is nothing; who am I thatI should complain because I have lost my son, when so many of your sonsare dead and their blood is required at my hands? Listen again:' andshe went on to tell in burning words of the horrors of the siege, of thecruelties of the Spaniards, and of the bravery of the men of the Otomiewhom I had commanded. For a full hour she spoke thus, while all thatvast audience hung upon
her words. Also she told of the part that Iplayed in the struggle, and of the deeds which I had done, and now andagain some soldier in the crowd who served under me, and who had escapedthe famine and the massacre, cried out:
'It is true; we saw it with our eyes.'
'And so,' she said, 'at last it was finished, at last Tenoctitlan was aruin and my cousin and my king, the glorious Guatemoc, lay a prisonerin the hands of Malinche, and with him my husband Teule, my sister, Imyself, and many another. Malinche swore that he would treat Guatemocand his following with all honour. Do you know how he treated him?Within a few days Guatemoc our king was seated in the chair of torment,while slaves burned him with hot irons to cause him to declare thehiding place of the treasure of Montezuma! Ay, you may well cry "Shameupon him," you shall cry it yet more loudly before I have done, for knowthat Guatemoc did not suffer alone, one lies there who suffered with himand spoke no word, and I also, your princess, was doomed to torment.We escaped when death was at our door, for I told my husband thatthe people of the Otomie had true hearts, and would shelter us in oursorrow, and for his sake I, Otomie, disguised myself in the robe of awanton and fled with him hither. Could I have known what I should liveto see and hear, could I have dreamed that you would receive us thus, Ihad died a hundred deaths before I came to stand and plead for pity atyour hands.
'Oh! my people, my people, I beseech of you, make no terms with thefalse Teule, but remain bold and free. Your necks are not fitted to theyoke of the slave, your sons and daughters are of too high a blood toserve the foreigner in his needs and pleasures. Defy Malinche. Some ofour race are dead, but many thousands remain. Here in your mountain nestyou can beat back every Teule in Anahuac, as in bygone years the falseTlascalans beat back the Aztecs. Then the Tlascalans were free, now theyare a race of serfs. Say, will you share their serfdom? My people, mypeople, think not that I plead for myself, or even for the husband whois more dear to me than aught save honour. Do you indeed dream thatwe will suffer you to hand us living to these dogs of Tlascalans, whomMalinche insults you by sending as his messengers? Look,' and she walkedto where the spear that had been hurled at her lay upon the pavement andlifted it, 'here is a means of death that some friend has sent us, andif you will not listen to my pleading you shall see it used before youreyes. Then, if you will, you may send our bodies to Malinche as a peaceoffering. But for your own sakes I plead with you. Defy Malinche, andif you must die at last, die as free men and not as the slaves of theTeule. Behold now his tender mercies, and see the lot that shall beyours if you take another counsel, the counsel of Maxtla;' and coming tothe litter on which I lay, swiftly Otomie rent my robes from me leavingme almost naked to the waist, and unwound the bandages from my woundedlimb, then lifted me up so that I rested upon my sound foot.
'Look!' she cried in a piercing voice, and pointing to the scars andunhealed wounds upon my face and leg; 'look on the work of the Teuleand the Tlascalan, see how the foe is dealt with who surrenders to them.Yield if you will, desert us if you will, but I say that then your ownbodies shall be marked in a like fashion, till not an ounce of gold isleft that can minister to the greed of the Teule, or a man or a maidenwho can labour to satisfy his indolence.'
Then she ceased, and letting me sink gently to the ground, for I couldnot stand alone, she stood over me, the spear in her hand, as thoughwaiting to plunge it to my heart should the people still demand oursurrender to the messengers of Cortes.
For one instant there was silence, then of a sudden the clamour and thetumult broke out again ten times more furiously than at first. But itwas no longer aimed at us. Otomie had conquered. Her noble words, herbeauty, the tale of our sorrows and the sight of my torments, had donetheir work, and the heart of the people was filled with fury against theTeules who had destroyed their army, and the Tlascalans that had aidedthem. Never did the wit and eloquence of a woman cause a swifter change.They screamed and tore their robes and shook their weapons in the air.Maxtla strove to speak, but they pulled him down and presently he wasflying for his life. Then they turned upon the Tlascalan envoys and beatthem with sticks, crying:
'This is our answer to Malinche. Run, you dogs, and take it!' till theywere driven from the town.
Now at length the turmoil ceased, and some of the great chiefs cameforward and, kissing the hand of Otomie, said:
'Princess, we your children will guard you to the death, for you haveput another heart into us. You are right; it is better to die free thanto live as slaves.'
'See, my husband,' said Otomie, 'I was not mistaken when I told you thatmy people were loyal and true. But now we must make ready for war, forthey have gone too far to turn back, and when this tidings comes to theears of Malinche he will be like a puma robbed of her young. Now, let usrest, I am very weary.'
'Otomie,' I answered, 'there has lived no greater woman than you uponthis earth.'
'I cannot tell, husband,' she said, smiling; 'if I have won your praiseand safety, it is enough for me.'