University of Virginia Library

11. CHAPTER XI.

The dancers had fled from the terrace; the fire
had smouldered away; but in the light of the moon,
which shed a far lovelier radiance, Don Amador, as
he was hurried to the steps, saw in place of the gay
cavaliers, a few sentries striding in front of the towers,
and among the artillery which frowned on either
edge of the platform. Nevertheless, if his rage had
left him inquisitive, he was not allowed time to indulge
his observations. He was hurried down the
steps, carried a few paces further, and instantly immured
in the stone dwelling of some native chief,
which, by the substitution of a door of plank for the
cotton curtain, and other simple contrivances, had
been easily converted into a prison.

In the meanwhile, the rage of the governor burned
with a fury that was not much lessened by the remonstrances
of his officers; and to the counsel of
Duero,—the personal secretary of Don Diego Velasquez,
accompanying the expedition less as an adviser
than as a spy over the general, and therefore necessarily
held in some respect,—he answered only with
heat and sarcasm.

“I have ever found the señor Don Andres,” he
cried, without regarding the presence of Botello, “to
be more friendly with the friends of Cortes than may
seem fitting in the honourable and confidential secretary
of Velasquez!”

“I will not deny that such is my temper,” said
Duero; “nor will I conceal from you that such leniency
springs less from affection than interest. Sure
am I, that had your excellency, from the first, held
out the arms of conciliation, instead of the banners
of vengeance, at this moment, instead of being arrayed
against you in desperate hostility, the forces of
Cortes would have been found enrolled under your

own standard, and Cortes himself among the humblest
and faithfullest of your captains.”

“While I doubt that effect,” said the general
sharply, “I cannot but be assured of the strength of
Don Andres's interest, while I listen to the whispers
of his enemies.”

Duero coloured, but replied calmly:

“It is not unknown to me, that certain ill-advised
persons have charged me with being under the influence
of a secret compact with Cortes, formed before
his appointment to the command of the first army of
invasion; whereby I was to share a full third of the
profits of his enterprise. Without pretending to show
the improbability of such an agreement, I will, for an
instant, allow your excellency to take it for granted,
in order that your excellency may give me credit for
my present disinterestedness, in doing all I can to
ruin my colleague; in which I reckon, as no slight
matter, taking every opportunity to decoy away his
followers.”

“If thou wilt show me in what manner submission
to the whims and insults of this insolent boy could
have detached any of the mutineers from Cortes, I
will confess myself in error, and liberate him forthwith,”
said the general.

“The insult has been passed, the blow has been
struck,” said Duero gravely, “and unless your excellency
chooses to measure swords with him immediately
after his liberation, nothing can be gained by
such a step. I should rather counsel your excellency
to have the prison watched with a double guard.
But, in arresting him, you have, besides giving deep
offence to your colleague, the admiral, for ever won
the hate and hostility of the knight of Rhodes; and
when this is told him in the camp of Cortes, it will
harden the hearts of all against us.”

“When it is told in the camp of Cortes,” said Narvaez,
with a bitter smile, “it shall be with mine own
lips; and if I hang not upon a tree, afterwards, the
knight Calavar himself, it will be more out of regard

to his madness, than to the dignity of his knighthood.
I will attack the rebel to-morrow!”

“Your excellency is heated by anger,” said Duero
temperately; “or you would observe you have a follower
of the rebel for a listener.”

“Ay! Botello!” cried the general, with a laugh of
scorn. “He will carry my counsels to Cortes when
the cony carries food to the serpent, and the sick ox
to the carrion crow. Hark, sirrah,—thou hast read
the fate of thy master: will I attack him to-morrow?”

“Thou wilt not,” said Botello, with an unmoved
countenance.

“Hah!” cried Narvaez; “art thou so sure of this
that thou wilt pledge thy head on the prophecy? Thou
shalt live to be hanged at sunset, with thy old comrades
for spectators.”

“Heaven has written another history for to-morrow,”
said Botello, gravely; “and I have read that
as closely as the page of to-day; but what is for myself,
is, and no man may know it: The fate in store
for the vain pride and the quick anger, may, in part,
be spoken.”

“Sirrah,” said Narvaez, “remember, that though
the vain pride might overlook one so contemptible as
thyself, the quick anger is not yet allayed; and if thou
wilt not have me beat thee in the morning, proceed
forthwith to discourse of our destinies.”

“Blows shall be struck,” said the magician, earnestly;
“but whether upon my own head or another's,
whether in this temple or another place, whether in
the morning or the evening, I am not permitted to
divulge. Repent of thy sins; call in a confessor, and
pray; for wrath cometh, and sorrow is behind! By
the spirits that live in the stars, by the elves that
dwell in stones and shrubs, by the virtues that are
caged in matter where the ignorant man findeth
naught but ignorance, have I been made acquainted
with many things appertaining to thy fate, but not
all. If thou wilt, I will speak thee the things I am
permitted.”

“Speak then,” cried the general; “for whether
thy knowledge be truth or lies, whether it come from
the revelations of angels, or the diabolical instructions
of fiends, I will listen without fear.”

“Adonai Melech! under the heaven, and above the
abyss,—with my hand on the cross, and the rosary
in my bosom,—in Rome, near to the footsteps of his
holiness, and with one who was his favourite astrologer,
studied I mine art; and there is nothing in it that
is not blessed,” said Botello, with a solemn enthusiasm,
that made a deep impression upon all.—“Give me a
staff, that I may draw the curtain from this loop,” he
continued.

The sword of a younger officer was instantly extended,
the curtain removed, and the moon, climbing
the blue hills of paradise, looked down into the apartment.
The cavaliers stared at the astrologer and
magician, for Botello was both, some with an unconcealed
awe, and others, the general among the rest,
with an endeavour at looks of contempt not in good
character with the interest they betrayed in all his
proceedings. He raised his eyes to the beautiful luminary—enough
to create by her mystic splendour
the elements of superstition in the breast of a rhapsodist,—crossed
himself devoutly twice or thrice,
mumbled certain inexplicable words, and then said
aloud, with a mournful emphasis,

“Wo to him that sits in the high place, when the
moon shines from the house Allatha! But the time
has not come; and I dare not speak the hour of its
visitation.”

“And what shall it advantage me to know my
peril, if I have not such knowledge as may enable
me to prevent it?” demanded Narvaez, with a frown.

“And what would it benefit thee to know the time
of thy peril,” said the astrologer, “when God has
not given thee the power to avert it? What is written
must be fulfilled; what is declared must be accomplished.
Listen—the queen of night is in the eighteenth
mansion; and under that influence, discord is

sown in the hearts of men, sedition comes to the
earth, and conspiracy hatches under the green leaf.”

The general turned quickly upon his officers, and
surveyed them with an eye of suspicion. They looked
blankly one upon another, until Duero, laughing
in a forced and unnatural manner, cried,

“Why should we listen to this madman, if we are
so affected by his ravings? Señor general, you will
straightway look upon us all as traitors!”

“There have been villains about us before,” muttered
the general, “but I will not take the moon's
word for it; and the more especially that I must receive
it through this man's interpretation.”

“It is the influence, too, that is good for the friendless
captive,” continued the magician; “and many a
heart that beats under bonds to-night, will leap in
freedom to-morrow.”

“Every way this is bad for us,” said Duero, ban-teringly.
“I would advise your excellency to clap
chains on the legs of De Leste and the scribe, who
are, I think, saving the few rogues of Cortes who
have craved to enter into our service, the only prisoners
in our possession.”

“And dost thou think this gibberish will move me
to any such precaution?” cried Narvaez, with a compelled
smile. “Thou canst not believe I listen to it
for aught but diversion?”

“Surely not, if your excellency says so. But still
may we guard the prisoners, without fear of being
laughed at for our superstition,—as long as we have
faith in the discretion of all present.”

“Guard them thyself, if thou wilt,” said the general;
“I am not moved enough for such condescension.—Continue
thy mummeries, Botello,” he went
on, “and when thou art done with the moon, of
which I am heartily tired, I will look for thee to
introduce me to some essence that speaks a clearer
language.”

“What wouldst thou have?” cried the astrologer;

“what plainer language wouldst thou have spoken?
In the house Allatha is written the defection of friends,
the dethronement of princes, the fall of citadels in a
siege.”

“Villain and caitiff! dost thou dare to insinuate
that this citadel of Zempoala is in a state of siege?”
cried the Biscayan, with a ferocious frown.

“I speak of the things that are to come;” said
Botello. “What more than this wilt thou have?”

“It will doubtless be well,” interrupted Duero, significantly,
“to evacuate this city in the morning. By
encamping in the fields, we can certainly avoid the
danger of a besieged citadel.”

“Dost thou gibe me, Don Andres?” said Narvaez,
with a brow on which jealousy struggled with rage.

The secretary of Velasquez laid his hand on his
heart, with a gesture of respectful deprecation.

“Ay! I see thou art stirred by these phantasms!”
cried the governor, with a harsh laugh, looking from
Duero to the other cavaliers. “What means this,
my masters? Do ye all stare as if ye had got among
you a dead Samuel, telling ye of your deaths on the
morrow? Cheer up,—for, by'r lady, I intend, if this
old fellow's command of the black art runs so far, to
divert you with a more horrible companion. What
sayest thou, Botello? It is whispered thou canst raise
devils, and force them to speak to thee!”

“Ay!” said Botello, with a ghastly grin, staring
the general in the face, until the latter faltered before
him. “Wilt thou adventure then so far? Canst thou,
whose eyes tremble at the gaze of a living creature,
think to look upon the face of a fallen angel? Hast
thou confessed to-day, and been absolved? hast thou
been free, since the sun-rise, of thoughts of treachery
and feelings of wrath? The pentacle and the circle,
the consecrated sword and the crucifix, the sign of
the cross and the muttered paternoster, will not protect
the unshriven sinner from the claws of a raised
demon.”

“If thou canst raise him,” said Narvaez stoutly,

“do so, and quickly. I fortify myself in the name
of God and the Holy Ones, against all spirits and
devils. It will be much satisfaction to my curiosity
to look upon one of the accursed.”

“They are about us in the air—they are at our
elbows and ears,” said Botello; “and it needs but a
spell to be spoken to bring them before us. But wo
to him that hath thought a sin to day, when the Evil
One looks on him!”

“Señor Narvaez,” cried Duero, with a most expressive
and contagious alarm, “if it be your inclination
to raise the devil, you must indulge it alone.
For my part, I confess there have been, this day,
certain sinful thoughts about my bosom, which have
unfitted me for such an interview; and—I care not
who knows it—my valour has in it so little of the fire
of faith, I would sooner, at any moment, speak with
ten men than one devil. God be with you, señor,—
I wish you a good evening.”

“Tarry, Duero; stay, cavaliers!” cried Narvaez,
losing much of his own dread in the contemplation
of the apprehension of others. “Why, you are such
a knot of sinners as I dreamed not I had about me!
Faith, I am ashamed of you, and of you in particular,
Duero; for I thought thy shrewdness would have
seen in this knave's attempt to frighten us from the
exhibition, an excellent evidence of his inability to
make it.”

“I could show thee more than thou couldst see,”
said Botello, “and, I know, more things will come to
thee than thou shalt see. I know, with all thy vaunting,
thou wouldst perish in the gaze of an angel of
hell; for thy heart would be the heart of a boy, and
it flutters already, even at the thought of the spectacle.—I
will show thee an essence thou mayest look
upon without alarm.”

“Do so,” said Narvaez, sternly; “and remember,
while saying what may be necessary by way of explanation,
that thou speakest to the chief and governor
of these lands, who will whip thy head from thy

neck, in spite of all the devils, if thou discoursest not
with more becoming reverence.”

“My fate is written!” cried Botello, with neither
indignation or alarm; and drawing calmly from his
bosom an implement of his art, he advanced to the
light, and displayed it freely to the cavaliers. It
was, or seemed to be, an antique jewel of rock-crystal,
not bigger than a pigeon's egg, set in the centre
of a triangular disk of gold, on which last, were engraved
many unknown characters and figures. Crossing
himself twice or thrice, the enchanter swung it
by a little silver chain to which it was pendent, in
the full blaze of the lamp; so that either of the persons
present might have handled it, had any been so
disposed. But, in truth, the superstition of an age
for which no marvel was too gross, no miracle too
wonderful, was more or less shared by all; and
they merely surveyed it at a distance with curiosity
and fear.

“This,” said the magician,—“a gem more precious
to the wise than the adamant of the East, but
in the hands of the unfaithful, more pernicious than
the tooth of a viper,—is the prison-house of an essence
that was once powerful among the spirits of night.
The great Agrippa wedged him in this stone; and
from Agrippa, when I rested at his feet in the holy
city, did I receive the inestimable gift.—Kalidon-Sadabath!
the night is thy season, the midnight thy
time of power! The lord of men calls thee from thy
prison-house, the armed man calls thee with the sword!
—Lo! he wakes from his slumber, and will image out
the destiny of the seeker!”

The cavaliers, starting, gazed behind them with
fear, as if expecting to behold some mighty fiend
rising shadowy from the floor; but no intelligence
more lofty or more ignoble than themselves was visible
in the sanctuary. They bent their eyes upon the
crystal, and beheld, some with surprise and others
with deep awe, a little drop as of some black liquid,
glittering in the very centre of the jewel.

The haughty soldiers who would have rushed with
cries of joy upon an army of infidels, shrank away
with murmurs of hesitation, when Botello extended
the talisman towards them. But they mistook the
gesture of the magician; his arm was outstretched
more to display the wonder than to part with it.
He surveyed it himself a moment with much satisfaction;
then turning to Narvaez, he said,

“Lay thy hand upon the cross of thy sword, say
a paternoster over in thy heart, and thou shalt be
protected from the mischief of this inquisition, while
I tell thee what I behold in the face of Kalidon-Sadabath.”

“With your favour,” cried Narvaez, suddenly and
boldly snatching the enchanted crystal from the
hands of Botello, “I will choose rather to see his
visage myself, than trust to your interpretations;
and as for the protection, I can con over a paternoster
while I am looking: though, why it needs to bestow
so much piety upon this juggler's gewgaw, is
more than I can understand.”

“Say at least the prayer,” cried Botello, earnestly,
“for neither enchanted crystal nor consecrated
gold can hold the strong spirit from the wicked and
self-sufficient.”

“I have much trust in the saints, and in myself,”
said the governor, coolly, greatly assured and inspirited
by the harmless appearance of the little mystery.
“Nevertheless, I will follow your counsel, in
the matter of the prayer,—the more readily that it
will keep my mind from wandering to more important
affairs; and because, in part, I am somewhat
burdened with the sin of neglecting such duties, when
there is more occasion for them.”

He drew the lamp to him, grasped the crystal
firmly in his hands, and bending over it so closely
that his warm breath sullied its lustre, regarded it
with a fixed attention. The cavaliers noted the proceeding
with interest; they gazed now at the jewel
almost concealed in his grasp, and now at the general,

as his lips muttered over the inaudible prayer.—
Suddenly, and before he had half accomplished the
task, they observed his brows knit, and his lip fall;
his eye dilated with a stare of terror,—a deadly paleness
came over his visage,—and starting up and
loosing the talisman from his grasp, he exclaimed
wildly,

“By heaven, there is a living creature in the
stone!”

The sorcerer caught the magical implement as it
fell from the hands of Narvaez; and throwing himself
upon his knees, while the cavaliers looked on in mute
astonishment, exclaimed:—

“Forget not the prayer! and be content to hear
what is revealed by the imp of the crystal. Kalidon-Sadabath!
He flingeth abroad his arms, and is
in wrath and trouble!”

“It is true,” said Narvaez, looking to his officers
in perturbation. “While I looked into the shining
stone, the black drop increased in size, and grew into
the similitude of a being, whose arms were tossed
out as if in agony, while spots of fire gathered round
his visage!”

“Say the prayer, if thou wilt not die miserably before
the time that is otherwise ordained!” cried Botello
with a stern voice, that was remarkable enough,
to be addressed by one of his station to the proud and
powerful commander. “Once, twice—Ay! is there
no more to be reckoned by thee, Sadabath? Once,
twice—Yea, as the star sayeth, so sayest thou—
Once, twice!”

“What sayest thou?” said Narvaez, ceasing the
prayer he had resumed, to question the oraculous
adept.

“To thy prayer! Listen, and ask not.—Ay! thou
speakest in mystery! I turn thee to the north, which
thou knewest not, and the south, where thou hadst
thy dwelling,—to the east, which thou abhorrest, and
to the west, where was thy dark chamber; to the
heaven, whose light thou lovest not,—to the pit under

the earth, where thou wast a wanderer,—and to
man's heart, which was pleasanter to thee than the
bonds of the crystal. In the name of the Seven that
are of power under the earth, and of the Seven that
are mighty above, I call to thee, Kalidon-Sadabath,
the bright star that is quenched! In shadows, in fire
and smoke,—in thunder and with spears—with blows
and with bloodshed, thou speakest, and I hear thee!”

“I hear nothing save thy accursed croaking, worse
than that of the crows of Biscay,” cried Narvaez,
liotly. “If thy devil have no more intelligible gabble,
cast him out, and call another.”

“He speaks not, but by images and phantasms
pictured on the crystal.—Now listen, for thy story
cometh. I see a great house on fire—”

“Ay, I shall perish then in a conflagration!” said
the governor, hastily. “I have ever had a horror of
burning houses.”

“The smoke eddies, the flame roars, and one sitteth
blindfold under the eaves, with the flakes and cinders
falling about him, which he sees not.”

“If thou meanest, that I shall rest, in that stupid
state, under such peril, thy devil Sadabath is a liar,
and I defy him!”

“And he that takes thee by the hand,” cried Botello,
without regarding the interruptions,—“is he thy
friend?”—

“Ay, answer me that question,” said the governor;
“for if I am to be led out of the fire by a foeman, I
will straightway forswear my friends, and give my
heart to the magnanimous.”

“Thou doest him obeisance!” cried the magician,
with extraordinary emphasis—

“Villain!” exclaimed the general.

“Thou placest thy neck upon the earth, and he
tramples it!”

“Liar and traitor!” roared the Biscayan, spurning
the magician with his foot, and, in his fury, snatching
up a weapon to despatch him.

“Why shouldst thou stain thy hand with the blood

of the dotard?” cried Duero, interposing for a second
time between the intemperate commander and the
object of his anger. “He is a madman, incapable of
understanding what he says; and were he even sane,
and speaking the truth, your commands to have him
entertain you with his mummeries, should have ensured
him against your anger.”

“Very true,” said Narvaez, with a scowl; “I was
a fool to strike him.—Trample on my neck! Thou
grizzly and cheating villain!—Go! begone!—Thy
devil, though he cannot tell thee what awaits thee in
the morning, may show thee what thou deservest.”

“I deserved not to be spurned,” said Botello tranquilly,
after having gathered up his enchanted crystal,
and raised himself to his feet; “and the dishonour will
fall not on the side that was bruised, but on the limb
that was raised against it.—Once already, to-day,
have I cursed the man that struck me in my captivity;
and he lies a corse on his couch.”

“It is true,” said a young cavalier, shuddering.
“I inquired after Caboban, when I came from the prison
with Botello—he was dead!”

“I will curse no more to-day,” said the magician,
sorrowfully; “for it is a sin upon the soul to kill with
maledictions; and, moreover, thou, that hast done me
this wrong, wilt suffer enough, without a new retribution!”

The general waved his hand angrily and impatiently,
and Botello was led away, followed by most
of the cavaliers.