The White Conquerors: A Tale of Toltec and Aztec by Kirk Munroe
CHAPTER XIV.
A CHALLENGE, AND ITS RESULT
While the embassy of Tlascalans, headed by Huetzin, was being receivedwith all honor in the camp of the rejoicing Spaniards, another,consisting of five Aztec nobles, with a retinue of two hundredservants, bearing presents of great value, arrived from the court ofMontezuma. They were sent by the trembling monarch to congratulateCortes on his recent victories over the most redoubtable warriors ofthe Plateau, and to warn him against entering into an alliance withthem. In reality the Aztec king, who had watched the movements of thewhite conquerors with deepest anxiety, and who had rejoiced when theytook the road to Tlascala, still hoped that they might be destroyed bythe armies of the mountain republic, and would have used any means toprolong the war just ended. Under pretence of needing time to prepare asuitable answer to his majesty, Cortes detained these ambassadors forseveral days, that they might witness his reception at the Tlascalancapital.
Preparations were now made for leaving the hill of Zompach, onwhich the conquerors had passed three memorable weeks, and itsfortress-temple, the ruins of which are shown to this day as thoseof the "Tower of Victory." On the 23d of September, the anniversaryof which is still celebrated by Tlascalans as a day of jubilee, theChristian army entered the capital of the brave little republic. Thevan of the procession consisted of a body of white-robed priests,chanting and scattering clouds of sweet incense from swaying censers.Next came Huetzin, proudly leading an escort of a thousand Tlascalanwarriors. These were followed by Cortes and the Aztec envoys. Afterthem marched the battle-worn Spanish troops, with their rumblingartillery and prancing cavalry bringing up the rear.
The eager multitude of spectators who thronged the streets and terracedroofs, and who were kept in check by an efficient body of nativepolice, greeted the conquerors with acclamations, showering upon themgarlands and wreaths of the choicest flowers. They even hung theseover the necks of the horses, and on the black-muzzled guns. Arches ofgreen branches, entwined with roses, spanned the streets, and the housefronts were gay with fragrant festoons.
A great feast was provided in the palace of Titcala for the entireSpanish army, and at the entrance the aged chieftain waited to welcomethem. When Huetzin escorted Cortes to where the veteran stood, thelatter passed his hands over the conqueror's face, and, tracing itslines of rugged determination, exclaimed:
"Now, oh, Malinche, do I understand the secret of thy success! Thouhast the will of a god; and when thy face is set, no mortal power mayturn it to the right or to the left."
After the banquet the Spaniards were conducted to quarters preparedfor them in the court of the temple. The festivities were continuedfor a week, during which time feasting was alternated with games andexhibitions of every description. The Tlascalans never wearied ofwitnessing the manœuvres of the Spanish horsemen, nor their displaysof skill with the lance. In these, none so astonished the spectatorsas did Sandoval, with a feat that he performed, not only once, butmany times in succession. It was to ride at full speed toward a papertarget, and pierce, with the glittering point of his lance, a paintedcircle, no larger than a man's eye. Only one possessed of the steadiestnerves and keenest eyesight, trained by long practice, could haveaccomplished this feat. Even with these qualifications, the riderwas so dependent on the steadiness of his horse, that on the back ofany but his own Motilla, even Sandoval often failed to strike thetiny circle. With Motilla's aid failure seemed impossible, and of theplaudits that the feat drew from admiring throngs, it is doubtful ifhorse or rider received the most.
Nor was Huetzin at all behind his newly adopted brother in deeds ofwarlike skill. Standing at thirty paces from the same target used bySandoval, he would hurl javelin after javelin through the tiny mark,each passing through the opening made by its predecessor withoutenlarging it. He could also shoot one, two, or even three arrows at atime from his bow, with equal precision, and could split the shaft ofone, quivering in a mark, with the keen blade of another. Such feats,though rare, were not unknown to the Tlascalans; but to the Spaniardsthey seemed little short of supernatural, and, on account of them,Huetzin was treated with a greater respect by the white soldiers thanany other native of the land.
During this time the young Toltec was eagerly acquiring two otheraccomplishments. From Marina he took daily lessons in the Spanishtongue, which she had learned to speak fluently during her six monthsof intercourse with the conquerors. From Sandoval he received anequal amount of instruction in the use of his highly prized sword. Socarefully had he been trained by his warrior father in the handling ofall native weapons, that, after a week of practice, he was nearly asdexterous with the Spanish blade as with his accustomed maquahuitl,a weapon that he was now inclined to despise. Something of this kindbeing intimated one day, within the hearing of Xicoten, that warrior,anxious to humiliate his cousin, whom at the same time he regardedas a rival, and jealous for the reputation of his national weapon,challenged Huetzin to a trial of skill.
Although the latter had not regained his full strength, and had buta few days of sword practice to match against the other's years offamiliarity with the maquahuitl, his bold spirit did not permit him tohesitate a moment in accepting the challenge.
Sandoval was greatly troubled when he learned of the rash engagemententered into by his pupil. He expressed himself on the subject invigorous language, ending with: "That rascally kinsman of thine isjealous of thee, Don Juan, and, if I mistake not, would gladly seizethis flimsy pretext for putting thee out of the way. Canst thou notavoid him for the present, or until thou art better fitted to lower hispride?"
This being translated by Marina, who seconded Sandoval's appeal with alook from her own beautiful eyes that would have moved Huetzin from anypurpose where his word was not pledged, he answered: "It may not be,my brother. I have promised to try a turn with him, and that promiseI would redeem with my life, if necessary. But it will not be, I amconvinced. Xicoten meditates no more harm to me than I to him, and thetrial will be but a friendly one."
"Let him look to it that it is!" growled Sandoval, "and remember that Iam to act as thy second."
The following day was set apart for certain games of wrestling,foot-racing, and other tests of strength or skill, and it was decidedthat these should end with the trial of weapons between Huetzin andXicoten. There was an immense concourse of spectators to witness thegames, and when at length the two Tlascalan champions stood forth,they were greeted with tumultuous applause. Each was accompanied by asecond, pledged to see fair play. That of the war chief was a brothernoble of gigantic size, and by Huetzin's side walked Sandoval, with aface as melancholy as though he were attending an execution.
There were no preliminary formalities. The contestants were placedtwo paces apart, Xicoten, armed with his maquahuitl, a tough oakenstaff, some three and a half feet long, set with blades of itztli,and Huetzin with his sword of Toledo steel. Each bore on his left arma tough leathern shield. Behind Xicoten stood his second, also armedwith a maquahuitl, and a little to one side of Huetzin, Sandoval leanedgloomily on his great two-handed sword.
The contest began with a cautious play of fence, in which theadversaries displayed an equal skill, and which the spectators greetedwith hearty approval. Soon, however, Xicoten's blows began to fall witha downright earnestness that boded ill for his slighter antagonist, andbut for Huetzin's superior agility in springing back, and so evadingthem, it was evident that he would have come to grief. Several timeswas his guard beaten down by sheer force. The face of the young Toltecgrew pale, his breath came in gasps, and it was apparent to all thathis powers of endurance were nearly spent.
Finally blood began to ooze from the recent wound in his head, at sightof which murmurs arose from the spectators, and cries for the contestto end. Sandoval, who stood with half-closed eyes and an air of boredindifference, began to arouse. Huetzin deftly caught a cruel blow fromXicoten's maquahuitl on his shield; but beneath its force his left armdropped as though numbed.
With blazing eyes Sandoval stepped for
On the next day, in spite of the protests from Montezuma's ambassadors,and the warnings of the Tlascalan counsellors, the white conquerorsprepared to resume their march to Tenochtitlan, which they proposed toreach by way of the sacred city of Cholula.