University of Virginia Library

7. CHAPTER VII.
COURT GOSSIP.

“A PINCH of your snuff, Xoli! To be out thus early
dulls a nice brain, which nothing clarifies like snuff.
By the way, it is very strange that when one wants a good
article of any kind, he can only get it at the palace or of
you. So, a pinch, my fat fellow!”

“I can commend my snuff,” said the Chalcan, bowing
very low, “only a little less than the good taste of the most
noble Maxtla.”

While speaking, — the scene being in his pulque room, —
he uncovered a gilded jar sitting upon the counter.

“Help yourself; it is good to sneeze.”

Maxtla snuffed the scented drug freely, then rushed to the
door, and through eyes misty with tears of pleasure looked
at the sun rising over the mountains. A fit of sneezing
seized him, at the end of which, a slave stood by his elbow
with a ewer of water and a napkin. He bathed his face.
Altogether, it was apparent that sneezing had been reduced
to an Aztec science.

“Elegant! By the Sun, I feel inspired!”

“No doubt,” responded the Chalcan. “Such ought to be
the effect of tobacco and rose-leaves, moistened with dew.
But tell me; that tilmatli you are wearing is quite royal, —
is it from the king?”

The young chief raised the folds of the mantle of plumaje,
which he was sporting for the first time. “From the king?
No; my tailor has just finished it.”

“Certainly, my lord. How dull I was! You are preparing
for the banquet at the palace to-morrow night.”

“You recollect the two thousand quills of gold I bid for
your priestess the other evening,” said Maxtla, paying no
attention to the remark. “I concluded to change the investment;
they are all in that collar and loop.”

Xoli examined the loop.

“A chalchuite! What jeweller in the city could sell you
one so rich?”

“Not one. I bought it of Cacama. It is a crown jewel
of Tezcuco.”

“You were lucky, my lord. But, if you will allow me,
what became of the priestess? Saw you ever such dancing?”

“You are late inquiring, Chalcan. The beggar was fast
by starvation that night; but you were nearer death. The
story was told the king, — ah! you turn pale. Well you
may, — and he swore, by the fires of the temple, if the girl
had been sold he would have flayed alive both buyer and
seller. Hereafter we had both better look more closely to
the law.”

“But she moved my pity as it was never moved before;
moreover, she told me they had discharged her from the temple.”

“No matter; the peril is over, and our hearts are our own.
Yesterday I saw her in the train of the princess Tula. The

'tzin cared for her. But speaking of the princess, — the banquet
to-morrow night will be spicy.”

The Chalcan dropped the precious loop. Gossip that concerned
the court was one of his special weaknesses.

“You know,” continued Maxtla, “that the 'tzin has
always been a favorite of the king's —”

“As he always deserved to be.”

“Not so fast, Chalcan! Keep your praise. You ought
to know that nothing is so fickle as fortune; that what
was most popular yesterday may be most unpopular to-day.
Hear me out. You also know that Iztlil', the Tezcucan, was
down in the royal estimation quite as much as the 'tzin was
up; on which account, more than anything else, he lost his
father's city.”

Xoli rested his elbow on the counter, and listened eagerly.

“It has been agreed on all sides for years,” continued
Maxtla, in his modulated voice, “that the 'tzin and Tula
were to be married upon her coming of age. No one else
has presumed to pay her court, lest it might be an interference.
Now, the whole thing is at an end. Iztlil', not the
'tzin, is the fortunate man.”

“Iztlil'! And to-morrow night!”

“The palace was alive last evening as with a swarming
of bees. Some were indignant, — all astonished. In fact,
Xoli, I believe the 'tzin had as many friends as the king.
Several courtiers openly defended him, notwithstanding his
fall, — something that, to my knowledge, never happened
before. The upshot was, that a herald went in state to Iztapalapan
with a decree prohibiting the 'tzin from visiting
Tenochtitlan, under any pretence, until the further pleasure
of the king is made known to him.”

“Banished, banished! But that the noble Maxtla told
me, I could not believe what I hear.”

“Certainly. The affair is mysterious, as were the means

by which the result was brought about. Look you, Chalcan:
the 'tzin loved the princess, and was contracted to her, and
now comes this banishment just the day before the valley
is called to witness her betrothal to the Tezcucan. Certainly,
it would ill become the 'tzin to be a guest at such a
banquet.”

“I understand,” said Xoli, with a cunning smile. “It
was to save his pride that he was banished.”

“If to be a Chalcan is to be so stupid, I thank the gods
for making me what I am!” cried Maxtla, impatiently. “What
cares the great king for the pride of the enemy he would humble?
The banishment is a penalty, — it is ruin.”

There was a pause, during which the Chalcan hung his
head.

“Ah, Xoli! The king has changed; he used to be a
warrior, loving warriors as the eagle loves its young. Now
— alas! I dare not speak. Time was when no envioushearted
knave could have made him believe that Guatamozin
was hatching treason in his garden at Iztapalapan. Now,
surrounded by mewling priests, he sits in the depths of his
palace, and trembles, and, like a credulous child, believes
everything. `Woe is Tenochtitlan!' said Mualox; and
the days strengthen the prophecy. But enough, — more
than enough! Hist, Chalcan! What I have said and
you listened to — yea, the mere listening — would suffice,
if told in the right ears, to send us both straightway to the
tigers. I have paid you for your snuff, and the divine
sneeze. In retailing, recollect, I am not the manufacturer.
Farewell.”

“Stay a moment, most noble chief, — but a moment,” said
the Chalcan. “I have invented a drink which I desire you
to inaugurate. If I may be counted a judge, it is fit for a
god.”

“A judge! You? Where is the man who would deny

you that excellence? Your days have been spent in the practice;
nay, your whole life has been one long, long drink.
Make haste. I will wager pulque is chief in the compound.”

The broker went out, and directly returned, bearing on a
waiter a Cholulan goblet full of cool liquor, exquisitely
colored with the rich blood of the cactus apple. Maxtla
sipped, drank, then swore the drink was without a rival.

“Look you, Chalcan. They say we are indebted to our
heroes, our minstrels, and our priests, and I believe so; but
hereafter I shall go farther in the faith. This drink is worth
a victory, is pleasant as a song, and has all the virtues of a
prayer. Do not laugh. I am in earnest. You shall be
canonized with the best of them. To show that I am no
vain boaster, you shall come to the banquet to-morrow, and
the king shall thank you. Put on your best tilmatli, and
above all else, beware that the vase holding this liquor is not
empty when I call for it. Farewell!”