CHAPTER XXI.
A SUPERSTITIOUS KING
While the priests were making their complaints to Montezuma, Cortes andhis companions were gazing with fascinated eyes over the incomparablescene outspread on all sides of their lofty observatory. At their feetlay the city, its terraced roofs blooming with flowers, its streetsand shining canals intersecting each other at right angles, and thefour great avenues, three of which connected with as many causewaysleading to the mainland, stretching away in unbroken lines from thefour gates of Huitzil's temple. The avenues, streets, squares, andcanals were filled with a cheerful activity, and thronged with nativesin gay and picturesque costumes. Beyond the clustered buildings of thewide-spread city sparkled the waters of the lake in which it stood, andon its distant shores could be seen other cities, nestling villages,and the white walls of many a tall teocal rising above dark groves. Faracross the broad valley the glorious sweep of view was unbroken untilit rested on the encircling range of mountains that bounded it on allsides. From these many a frosty peak pierced the blue heavens, and,high over all trailed the smoke banners of Popocatepetl.
Their enjoyment of this enchanting scene was cut short by the kingadvising Cortes of the sacrilege committed by Sandoval and hisfollowers in ransacking the sacred shrine. He requested that, onaccount of it, the Spaniards should at once depart, leaving him and thepriests to win forgiveness of the gods for the offence, if indeed thatwere possible. Although Cortes would gladly have seconded Sandoval'sblunt proposal to tumble the stony-eyed god down a side of the pyramid,and fling the priests after it, he knew that the time for such heroicmeasures was not yet come, and so yielded to the request of the king.
The Spaniards, including Sandoval, who was more than ever perplexed anduneasy concerning the disappearance of his friend, had hardly takentheir departure before the chief priest advanced toward Montezuma witha smiling face.
"Oh, mighty lord, and lord of lords!" he exclaimed, making a deepobeisance, "know that I have this day secured a victim for Huitzil'saltar, the sacrifice of whom will not only banish from the mind ofthe gods the recent insults of the white zopilotes (vultures), butwill restore their favor to thee and thy people. He is no other thanthat son of Tlahuicol, the Tlascalan, who is the avowed enemy of thegods, and defied their wrath by his sacrilege at Cholula. Ever sinceI learned of his coming I have had a score of trusty fellows pledgedto his capture, and even now he is at hand, in a secret chamber of theshrine, where the prying eyes of the lime-faced strangers failed todiscover him. I fear, however, that, by some mysterious power knownonly to themselves, they have gained a knowledge of his capture, andare secretly in search of him. If it is thy will that he be immediatelysacrificed, and his body given to the sacred flame, then will theirsearch be in vain, and the manner of his disappearance will never beknown."
"Bring him forth and let him be sacrificed," replied the king. "Thetimes are urgent, and no means for winning back the favor of the godsmust be left untried. If it be not speedily restored, then shall kingand priest fall together, and the glory of Anahuac pass forever. Sohasten and produce thy victim, for I must shortly return to discoverwhat new mischief these insolent invaders may be meditating."
Filled with a savage joy that his revenge was about to be gratified,and pleased to be able to celebrate the coming of the king with soworthy a sacrifice, Topil hastened to the secure hiding-place in whichhe had left Huetzin. So long was he gone that the king, impatientof waiting, despatched one of the lesser priests to bid him producehis victim without further delay. This messenger returned with thestartling information that no trace of either the chief priest or hisprisoner was to be found.
With an exclamation of anger, Montezuma himself entered the shrineand made a personal search of every room, closet, nook, and corner ofits three stories. Finally he was compelled to admit that, in somemysterious way, and for some unknown reason, Topil had disappeared,leaving no trace of his presence. As even the king knew of no mode ofexit from the shrine, save its one visible doorway, he could in no wayaccount for this disappearance. Its mystery filled him with such asuperstitious dread of the place that he made haste to leave it, andwas borne back to his palace a prey to the most gloomy forebodings.
As the king, refusing the attendance of his nobles, entered his privateapartments, he was stupefied with amazement to see, standing beforehim, holding a bloody human heart in his hand, the figure of Topil, thechief priest. For a few seconds he gazed in motionless terror, thenhe managed to gasp: "Art thou a spirit or a reality? Speak! I commandthee!"
To this Topil answered: "I know not, O king, whether I am truly theone or the other. Hear thou my tale and then judge. When I left thee,but now, on the summit of Huitzil's holy temple, I went to bring fortha prisoner whom I had in safe keeping. Upon entering the place wherehe had been I found naught save traces of unquenchable fire, such asis used by the gods, and this heart. I was not terror-stricken, noreven greatly surprised, for I have known of other cases in which thegods, impatient of delay, have slain impious victims by means of theirown awful weapons. I was only amazed to see that the heart of thissacrifice was left as fresh and whole as though just torn from theliving body.
"Lifting it, I instantly observed it to be covered with omens sofavorable to thee as have never before been seen in all the years ofthy glorious reign. I was about to hasten to thee with the joyfultidings, when I was suddenly enveloped in a whirling cloud of dazzlingradiance and borne I know not whither. While in this state I wasgranted a vision. It was of the white strangers now within thy walls;but they were no longer proud, nor were they victorious. They seemedto be without a leader, and were being driven, like leaves before thewind, by the warriors of Tenochtitlan.
"This being interpreted, O king, means that if thou canst but deprivethem of their leader, the accursed strangers shall fall beneath thysword as falls the brittle chian before the reaper's sickle. Thus,O Montezuma, shall the immortal gods be vindicated and thy kingdomestablished forever.
"When I awoke from this glorious vision, behold, I was standing here,as thou seest me, with the heart of the son of Tlahuicol in my hand asa proof that I had not dreamed a dream."
THE FIGURE OF TOPIL THE CHIEF PRIEST.]
Such was the story of Topil, the chief priest, and this was theflimsy argument by which he persuaded Montezuma to embrace the firstopportunity for the destruction of the Spanish leader. It was a bolddevice, and it served to conceal the fact that the son of Tlahuicolhad again escaped from the altar. For fear its falsity should bediscovered, Topil urged immediate action according to his plan; butMontezuma would only promise that, if possible, it should be carriedout on the following day.
When Huetzin found himself respited from immediate sacrifice and thrustinto another cage, or cell, his first act was to tear the bandage fromhis eyes. Although the darkness in which he stood was absolute, and hecould see no more than before, his brain seemed to act more clearlynow that he was no longer blindfolded. With a new hope springing inhis heart, he felt on all sides for traces of a door. If he could onlyget out he might hide in some recess of the temple, and ultimatelyeffect an escape. Of course the chances were a thousand to one againsthim, but he would thankfully accept even that poor one. So he feltcarefully round and round the rough stone walls, but nothing yielded,and there was no trace of an opening. All at once it flashed into hismind that he had been within the narrow limits of these impenetrablewalls before. He was almost certain that he stood in the pedestal ofHuitzil's image, and just above the narrow stairway down which Tlalcohad conducted him on the occasion of his former escape from the altarof sacrifice.
If it should be! and if he could only discover the secret of theopening leading to the stairway, how gladly would he brave theunderground terrors to which it would conduct him, for the sake ofits one slender chance of escape! Kneeling on the floor he passed hisfingers, again and again, over every inch of its cold surface. Theresult was the same as had attended his efforts against the walls. Hecould find no trace of an opening nor of a
projection by means of whicha trap-door might be raised.
Finally, abandoning himself to despair, the young Toltec flung himselfat full length on the floor and beat with his clenched fists upon itsstony surface. As he did so, it seemed to sink beneath him with aslight grating sound. There was an upward rush of cool, damp air, and,in an instant, Huetzin was standing at the head of a flight of steps,while above him the ponderous stone door, that had opened for hispassage, swung noiselessly back into place.
With a wildly beating heart the fugitive began cautiously to descendthe unseen stairway. When midway down the second flight, a sound struckupon his ears that froze the blood in his veins. It came from above,and was that of some person rapidly descending behind him. The chiefpriest, for it must be he, had discovered his escape and was in hotpursuit, probably accompanied by others, all well-armed, and thirstingfor his blood.
Thus thinking, Huetzin listened for an instant to the advancing sounds,and then plunged forward, almost headlong, through the darkness. Downflight after flight of the interminable steps he dashed with recklesshaste, often slipping, falling, and rolling, but ever keeping inadvance of his pursuers. As he neared the bottom, the horror of thesecret door, there to be encountered, fell on him, and he cried aloudin his agony. Like a mocking echo, his cry was repeated from above.
When he reached the bottom of the last flight of steps, and could go nofarther, then he would turn and fight to the bitter end. They shouldnever again lay his breathing body on the hideous stone of sacrifice.
Thus Huetzin determined; but when he came to the door, and the pursuingfootsteps were close upon him, it stood open. Hardly crediting thiswonder, the fugitive sprang through the opening thus miraculouslyprovided, and slammed the heavy door behind him. Then he again ranforward through utter darkness. Feeling for the side passages that heremembered, he at length found and entered one. In this he ran, untilsuddenly he brought up against a solid wall, where he fell, panting,bruised, and almost unconscious, to the ground.