CHAPTER XXII.
SANDOVAL PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
When Sandoval returned with the others to the Spanish quarters, afterleaving the temple, he urged Marina to find out who had sent themessage that had despatched him on so fruitless an errand to Huitzil'sshrine, and, if possible, what it meant. This Marina was only too gladto undertake; for she, as well as the young Spaniard, was anxious andunhappy concerning the fate of him who had been her patient in Tlascala.
In the meantime Sandoval, visiting the Tlascalan quarters, found thefierce warriors very angry, and inclined to quarrel with some one, onaccount of the loss of their well-liked young chief. They could formno idea of what had become of him, but declared that if he were notrestored to them soon, and in safety, the city that had swallowed himshould be made to feel their vengeance. The matter was becoming soserious that it must be reported to Cortes. Upon hearing of it, theSpanish leader declared his intention of immediately visiting the king,and demanding any information he might possess upon the subject. Tothis end, he summoned Marina to accompany him as interpreter.
The Indian girl had but just discovered the page who had brought herthe message, and gained from him the information that it had been sentby one of the court ladies, who was even now walking in the king'sgardens, and to whom he would willingly conduct her. As Marina mustattend the Conqueror in his audience with the king, she turned the pageover to Sandoval, with instructions to lead the young cavalier to thegardens instead of herself, and point the lady out to him.
Then the same party, that had made a tour of the city that morning,set forth for Montezuma's palace. After they had entered its grounds,Sandoval, keeping a tight hold of his page, managed to slip awayunnoticed. He was pleasantly conscious that at length he, like otheryoung men whom he had known, was setting forth in search of a romanticadventure. The feeling was an entirely novel one; for the plain-facedyoung soldier, though expert in the art of war, was awkward of speech,and so diffident that, since his childhood, he had hardly exchanged adozen words with any woman. Marina was, of course, excepted, but heregarded her more in the light of a fellow-soldier than as a member ofthe dreaded sex.
He wondered if the woman he was about to see would be old or young,attractive or otherwise. He finally decided that she would bemiddle-aged, as dark-skinned as were most of the Indian women he hadseen, and that she was probably the wife of some court noble, whohad let drop a chance expression concerning Don Juan, which she hadmisunderstood. While thus cogitating, Sandoval was led through a mazeof shaded alleys and perfumed shrubberies until he was as bewildered asone without a compass in mid-ocean.
At length, after a long search, he and the page detected the sound ofvoices; and, as they emerged from behind a dense thicket of laurel, thelatter pointed, with a triumphant air, to two female figures pacingslowly along the borders of a miniature lake, and engaged in earnestconversation. One was dark, middle-aged, and stately. She answered sowell Sandoval's mental picture of the woman he wished to discover, thathe accepted her as such without a question. The other woman appeared tobe younger, but he could not see her face.
SANDOVAL MEETS TIATA.]
Unobserved, they walked toward the two women, and Sandoval had alreadylifted his steel bonnet, preparatory to addressing the elder, when thepage, pulling at his arm, pointed to the other, thus intimating that itwas she who had sent the morning's message. At that moment, startled bythe sound of their footsteps, the younger woman turned upon the youngsoldier a face more gloriously beautiful than any he had ever seenor dreamed of. It was that of a girl just entering womanhood, andwas fair almost to whiteness, but with a dash of carmine glowing oncheeks and lips. The little head bore a wealth of hair that was darkbrown, instead of jetty black, as was the case with most Aztec maidens.It was poised like that of a princess, but the great brown eyes werefixed upon Sandoval with a startled, pleading expression that, as heafterward said, pierced him like the keenest of Toledo blades.
So taken aback was he by this sudden apparition of youthful beauty,that the steel bonnet, with which he was prepared to make an elaboratebow, slipped from his hand and fell, with a loud clatter to the marblepavement. It would have rolled into the water had not the page capturedand returned it to its owner. At this mishap the girl laughed, just alittle rippling laugh, the elder woman bit her lip, and poor Sandoval,the picture of despairing mortification, looked as though about to hidehis confusion in flight.
At this juncture the girl put some question to the page. At his answershe became very grave, and again looked appealingly at Sandoval.He, realizing that the time had come when he must either speak orignominiously retreat, and so become a fit subject for mirth throughoutall Mexico, opened his mouth and, after several abortive attempts,blurted out:
"I----that is, señorita, you----! I believe my brother, Don Juan----!You have exhibited an interest---- May I ask----? I mean, did you----?"
Here he paused, recalled by the expression of bewilderment on thegirl's face, to the fact that she could not understand a word of whathe was saying. She answered him, for all that, speaking so earnestlyand with such musical accents, that poor Sandoval was completelybewitched, and, in spite of his ignorance of her meaning, wouldwillingly have undertaken to listen to that sweet voice forever.
As she ended the words whose melody would linger in the ears of theembarrassed and shame-faced young soldier to his dying hour, there camea sound of other and harsher voices. Hearing them, the elder womancaught her companion by the arm and led her hastily away. Ere theydisappeared, the girl looked back with a ravishing smile that said, asplainly as words of purest Castilian:
"I do not think you plain or awkward, or ill-favored, for I know you tobe as true and brave a knight as ever plighted his troth to a maiden,"and, from that moment, in his heart of hearts, was Sandoval's trothpledged.
Now he looked for the page on whom he relied to lead him from thisenchanted wilderness. The boy had disappeared, and in his place stoodtwo grinning dwarfs, with huge heads, grotesquely misshapen bodies,and thin, little legs that seemed illy calculated to support them. AsSandoval stared at them they returned his stare with interest, at thesame time making diabolical faces and winking maliciously.
When he sternly demanded that they should lead him to the palace, theybroke forth with a harsh cackle of laughter and danced about him likehobgoblins. Finally, tormented beyond endurance, he drew his swordas though about to attack them, whereupon they retreated beyond hisreach with the lightness of thistledowns, and a speed that showed howlittle chance he had of capturing them. For an hour or so they amusedthemselves with impish torments of this young giant. When they atlength disappeared, Sandoval found himself, flushed and breathless,standing before a cage of solemn-looking apes, whose appearance was solike that of his recent tormentors, that he could not help laughing inspite of his disgust. Fortunately, he was here discovered by some ofthe king's animal-keepers, who conducted him to a place from which hecould see the Spanish quarters.
While Sandoval was undergoing these various and unique experiencesin the royal gardens, Cortes and his companions were admitted to thepresence of the king. Not having any reason to expect a visit from themat this hour, he was engaged in giving audience to many distinguishedpersonages; ambassadors from other countries of the Western World,princes of tributary provinces or cities, caciques of recentlyconquered tribes, generals of his army, and the like, who had petitionsto prefer or business to transact that required his personal attention.
Each of these was conducted into the throne-room by young nobles, whoacted as ushers, and each, no matter how exalted his rank, was obligedto cover his gorgeous raiment with a robe of coarse nequen, and enterthe presence barefooted. Approaching the king with many obeisances, andfinally making the sign of servitude by touching first the ground andthen his head with his right hand, the petitioner stood with downcasteyes waiting to be addressed before daring to speak. Each, as he wasdismissed, retreated backward, and continued to make humble obeisancesuntil he had passed from the roo
m.
After watching this scene for some time with great interest, Cortesstepped forward, and, through his fair interpreter, abruptly demandedwhat had become of his young chief of Tlascalans.
"He is dead," answered Montezuma, simply, at which Marina staggeredas though struck a heavy blow, and was scarcely able to translate thereply to Cortes.
"By whose hand?" demanded the Spanish leader, hotly.
"By the hand of no man, but by that of the gods."
"Where is his body?"
"No trace of it remains. If it were to be found I would deliver it tothee. If he had been slain by mortals they should be given to thee forpunishment," replied the king, solemnly.
Nothing more was to be elicited; and, filled with rage, Cortes and hiscompanions hastily departed, to consult as to what mode of revenge theyshould take, and upon whom.
They were followed, a few minutes later, by Sandoval, who, as he nearedthe Spanish quarters, was startled by seeing a man running toward him,hotly pursued by a crowd of priests and citizens brandishing weapons,and evidently intent upon taking his life. As he gazed curiously onthis scene the young soldier was horror-stricken to recognize, in thewell-nigh exhausted fugitive, his adopted brother, Huetzin the Toltec.Drawing his sword and springing forward with a loud cry, he succeededin checking the pursuit long enough to enable the pursued to dartthrough a gateway of the old palace. As the rescuer quickly followed itwas violently closed in the faces of the angry throng, whose prey wasthus snatched from their very grasp.