University of Virginia Library

19. CHAPTER XIX.

Gloom and fear still beset the garrison at the palace
of Axajacatl; and the mutiny of soldiers, and
fierce feuds among the cavaliers, were added to
other circumstances of distress. Those ancient veterans,
who had followed Don Hernan, from the first
day of invasion, and who had shared with him so
many privations and perils, were, in general, still
true to their oaths of obedience, and preserved through
all trials, an apparent, if not a real composure of
spirit, as well as a firm reliance on the wisdom of
their leader. But the followers of Narvaez, uninured
to combat, and but lately acquainted with suffering,
—their sanguine expectations of conquest without
danger, and of wealth without labour, changed to a
mere hope of disgraceful escape, and that hope, as
they all felt, founded, not in reason, but imagination,
—turned their murmurs into the most bitter execrations,
and these again into menaces. The officers,

too, rendered peevish by discontent, and reckoning
each the discomfiture of his neighbour as the evidence
of feebleness or fear, spoke to one another with
sarcasms, and even sometimes to Don Hernan himself
with disrespect. The self-command of the general,
however, never deserted him; he rebuked insult
with tranquil indignation, and so far prevailed over
his fiery subordinates, as to compose most of their
quarrels, without suffering them to be submitted to
the ordeal of honour. One feud had arisen, nevertheless,
which his skill could not allay; and all that
he could effect by remonstrance, and even supplication,
was an agreement of the parties to postpone its
final arbitrement, until such time as the providence
of heaven should conduct them afar from Tenochtitlan.
The wrath engendered in the bosom of the
Tonatiuh, by the angry reproaches of De Morla, after
their return from the battle of the Manta, had been
inflamed by a new circumstance, which, though of
a trivial nature, the pride of Alvarado and the resentment
of his opponent had converted into an affair
of importance.

There was among the many kinswomen of Montezuma,
who shared his captivity, (for the policy of the
general had reduced nearly all the royal blood to
bonds,) a certain young maiden, a daughter of the
lord of Colhuacan, and therefore a niece of the king:
who, in the general partition which the nobler of the
cavaliers had, in prospective, made of the Indian
princesses, had fallen to the lot of Alvarado. In those
days of legitimacy, there was some degree of divinity
allowed to hedge the person of even a barbaric monarch;
and happy was the hidalgo, who, by obtaining
a royal maid for his wife, could rank himself, in
imaginary dignity, with the princes of Christendom.
At the present moment, the companions of Cortes had
rather made their selections, than endeavoured to
commend themselves to the favour of their mistresses;—dropping,
thereby, so much of their reverence
for royalty, as not to suppose the existence of

any will, or opposition, in the objects of their desire.
The Doña Engracia, (her native title has entirely escaped
the historians,) was, therefore, beloved by Don
Pedro; but, not having been made acquainted with
the hidalgo's flame, she stooped, at the first promptings
of affection, to a destiny less brilliant and lofty.
Her heart melted at the handsome visage of the
young Fabueno; and the secretary, flattered by the
love of so noble a maiden, and emboldened by his
success in arms, did not scruple to become the rival
of the Tonatiuh. The rage of Don Pedro would have
chastised, in blood, the presumption of such a competitor;
but De Morla, remembering the novice, did
not hesitate, for his sake, to befriend his servant; and,
when he avowed himself the champion of Lorenzo,
he dreamed that he was about to avenge the fall of
his brother-in-arms.

The result of this opposition to the humours of
Alvarado, was a quarrel, so fierce and unappeasable,
that, as has been said, all which the general could effect,
was a postponement of conflict; and when Don
Pedro surrendered the princess to her plebeian lover,
it was with the assurance, that, as soon as the army
had left the city and lake, he should reckon her ransom
out of the life-blood of his companion.

The discovery of the unfaithfulness of his betrothed,
(for, in this light did the cavaliers regard the captive
princesses,) had been made the preceding evening;
and the angry contest of the cavaliers, and the arrangements
for combat, occurred at the moment
while Don Amador was lamenting the backwardness
of his friends to support him, when he became a
captive.

To allay the heart-burnings of his officers, who had
arrayed themselves, according to their friendships, on
either side, the general caused his trumpets to sound,
and bade all to prepare for an expedition of peril.
He had, all along, eyed the great pyramid, frowning
over his fortress, with peculiar anxiety. This was
caused, in part, by his consciousness of the advantage

it would give his enemies, as soon as they should dare
to profane its sanctity, by making it the theatre of
conflict. This very morning, it was made apparent,
by the presence of many barbarians thronging up its
sides, and by an occasional arrow or stone discharged
from its top, that the Mexicans were aware of its
usefulness. In addition to this cause for attempting
to gain possession of it, the leader was moved by a
vague hope, that, once master of the holiest of temples,
he might obtain the same advantages, through
the superstition of his foes, which he had lately possessed,
in the person of Montezuma, through their reverence
for the king. He mediated an assault, and
resolved to attempt it, before the pyramid should be
covered with Mexicans.

The strength of the army, both horse and foot,
was straightway displayed upon the square; and the
war-worn Christians once more marched against the
triumphing infidel.

The knight of Calavar, sitting on his sable steed,
with an air of more life than was ordinary, appeared
in this band; and the three serving-men, with the secretary,
followed at his back.