The roseate tinge of twilight still lingered on the water, when a small fisher's
boat, containing two persons, was seen pulling easily along the pier of
columns that terminated the grounds of the Imperial palace on the side of

[figure description] Page 022.[end figure description]

the canal opposite to the net-maker's street. One of the individuals, who
was seated on the centre thwart of the boat and rowing, was a hunchback: but
his face was like a woman's, for its soft beauty, and his hair flowed in luxuriant
tresses about his high, massive shoulders. His eyes were very large and
deeply set, and shot forth the most pentrating glances in a direct line. His
spirit looked visibly forth from them. They seemed literally to blaze like
lamps with the intensity of the intellectual fire pent within, and that was consuming
them.

The other individual was an old man, with a flowing beard, that rendered
his appearance strikingly venerable. The boat was very humble in its character
as also was the appearance of its occupants. They both wore the
coarse, blue scarf, scarlet cap, and striped fringed drawers, peculiar to the
lower castes of the Mexitili, save that the habit of the younger was fashioned
with more taste than the elder's, and notwithstanding his deformity, worn
with pretension to youthful grace. In the folds across his breast was placed
a sprig of the delicately-leaved plant of the Ute, as if there belonged to him
a grace of mind and refinement of taste singularly in contrast with the appearance
of his person. A net and a few fishes lay in the bottom of the
boat; a small awning was spread above the stern, where the old man was
seated, and the bows were ornamented with the rude representation carved
in wood, of a horse's head. The little boat moved steadily on, amid a multitude
of others, darting swiftly in every direction, and at intervals the youth,
who was rowing, would chant a verse of some hymn to the protecting spirit
of the water. At length they came opposite the entrance to the palace,
when he ceased rowing and gazed upon it. It rose from the shore, terrace
above terrace, supported by slender white marble columns, with gilded capitals,
till it terminated in a stately pile of imperial magnificence and grandeur
that rivalled even the Temple of the Sun, which stood near, itself appearing
a city of Grecian domes, and marble towers, and silver spires, mingled with
gardens, fountains, and lofty burnished altars, every point and pinnacle glittering
with precious stones.

`Father,' said the young man, after having for a few moments surveyed the
gorgeous palace of the emperor, `how many million human lives have been
sacrificed to build up that mountain of laid gold and columned marble?'

`How mean you, my son?' asked the old man; `'t is built of gold and
marble, as thou seest, and not of men's lives. Pull on a little further and then
we shall be high enough to take the current across to our street. 'T is getting
late.'

`I can imagine, father,' continued the young man, without regarding his
words, and gazing thoughtfully upon the structure, `I can imagine each fair
polished stone to be the scull of a man, like you and me, each diamond to be
a human eye, and every column and glorious ornament to be a human limb.
It is a palace of dead men's bones — and these men were our brothers —
our fellow-bondmen.'

`'T is said that three millions of the emperor's subjects died in erecting it,
my son, if that is what you mean — but their lives were his and not their
own.'

`Is thy life, father, thine own?' asked the youth with bitterness.

`'Till the emperor bid me give it up for his pleasure.'

`Ulyd is but a man like thyself!'

`He is the brother of the Sun.'

`And thou and I are children of the Sun. Which hath the more honor —
the son or the brother?

[figure description] Page 023.[end figure description]

`Hist, boy. Thou art mad. Thy language will be taken up by passing
boats.'

`And what would be the end of it?' he enquired scornfully, and his
glance kindling.

`The loss of thy head and thy father's.'

`May not the emperor take them at any moment if he will? Is it not
better to die having done worthy of death, than be slain like a sheep at
another's will? Father, I am tired of being a serf.'

`If thy tongue cuts thus, thou wilt not have long space to lament thy weariness,
' exclaimed the old man in alarm. `Hush, I bid thee! Take thine
oar — or yonder barge will come upon us and bear us down, and thou knowest
these nobles care little for a poor fisher's life.'

`Thou hast it! That is what I would have thee dwell upon in thy heart,
father,' said the hunchback, as the boat, obedient to a few strokes of his oars,
shot aside while a gay pleasure barge darted past like an arrow. `I
would have this feeling of the cheapness of our lives impressed on every mind
in Mexico, till she free herself in her might from this accursed vassalage.
Heaven made not me a slave — to wear this scarlet badge of servitude upon
my head, and this scarf across my body — and that haughty young cavalier,
standing on yonder prow, in silk and gold, to bid me crouch, and kneel, stand
aside or even slay myself at his bidding. I have a man's frame and form as
well as he. I speak, eat, move, as he does — love and hate as he does — in
short, I am a man, and he is no more.'

`Thou art hunchback, boy.' `The gods made me not so.' `No — thou
wert born fair and perfect — but it was a knight in sport tossed his shield
upon thee when thou wert an infant lying on the ground before the door.'

`Would to the just gods I knew this cavalier! I would slay him were he
prince Palipan.'

`Thou art most surely mad, Hucha,' cried the old man, trembling from
head to foot. Thou wilt, with thy hasty words, one day thrust thyself into
the way of death; and what will become of thy poor father.

`Die also, old man! 'T were better to die than live.'

`And Fatziza! Dost thou forget thy cousin, Fatziza?' plead the old
man mournfully.

`She, alas! were better dead than what she is, for her beauty will yet assuredly
bring to her young bosom, woe and misery I dare not think upon.
Besides,' he said in a sad, bitter tone, `she loves me not. I am Hucha, the
hunchback.'

As he spoke, he once more resumed his oars and was pulling along the
pier as before, when a glittering barge, with a silver prow and a shield above
the stern like the sun, gorgeous with crimson curtains and gilded canopies,
from which floated the sound of music mingled with gay voices of laughter,
came bearing down, impelled by fifty oars. It was the barge he had alluded
to, and on her prow stood the cavalier he had contrasted with himself.

`Ply the oar, boy!' cried the old man. At this instant they heard the
noble say, laughing, `Lo, yonder is a hunchback! he will fright our court
ladies and transfer the nobility. Besides, he is loitering in our course. Pass
on over him!'

The young man bent to the oar, for he saw the imminent danger and
cleared her arrowing and slightly deviating path just in time to escape being
struck by her bows, but fell upon the sweeps of the oars-men. `Knock the
slaves on the head and sink their boat,' cried the noble, as the skiff became

[figure description] Page 024.[end figure description]

entangled among the sweeps. `It will teach these fellows better than to obstruct
a knight's pleasure barge.'

The oars-men instantly upset the boat and threw them both out into the
water. The old man would have sunk, for he had been stunned by a blow
dealt from one of the sweeps, but for the aid of his son, who held him up with
one arm, while with the other he clung to one of the oars held by the rowers
and which were chained to the ports. Their weight depressed the barge,
and the noble sprung towards them with his sword drawn and cried sternly,

`Leave thy hold, hunchback!'

`It is my father here, my lord, whom I would save.'

The noble without replying, aimed a blow at his hand, with his weapon,
when he released his grasp and let the barge pass on leaving him swimming
and with difficulty keeping the old man's head above water. Two or three
skiffs were flying to their assistance, when the barge rounded to and the nobleman
with his friends gathered around him, forbade any one to help them,
while he looked on to witness the result as a novel species of entertainment.

`Thou dost buffet bravely, hunchback!' he cried with irony. `His
shoulders hold wind,' cried another. `Take the old man on thy back, Sir
Hunchback,' mocked a third cavalier.

The old man soon recovered his senses and greatly relieved the young
man of his burden by aiding himself.

`Father,' said the young man, as he saw that he could do without his assistance,
`I would sink to my grave now most willingly, did I not hope to
live to avenge this wrong. That gray knight, Guichapa, standing on the
stern, shall repent his pleasant sport.'

`He it was, boy, that cast the shield on thee!' said the old man looking.

`Then the gods help me to swim — for I will not die now.'

They slowly made their way towards the shore, when, as if wearied of the
delay, the noble, after one or two more insulting jeers, bade his barge move
on its way again, and left them to their fate. At this moment a light boat,
with a garland on its stern, pulled by a single man, passed so near them that
the oars were within reach of the young man's grasp.

`I pray thee, brother,' he said, `take this old man from the water.'

`Brother me no brother, slave,' said the rower, in a shrill, sharp key.
And turning his face towards the hunchback he showed the swart features and
glittering eye of the Flascalan.

`Thou hast well said it, eunuch. Pass on,' cried Hucha, withdrawing his
hold upon the side of the boat. `I would rather trust to the water than to one
of thy race.'

The Flascalan struck the young man a sharp blow upon the shoulders, accompanied
with a laugh of derision, and continued on his way across the
canal.

The barge had scarcely got twenty yards away, when several boats of
their own craft came to their assistance and took them on board. The hunchback
sat silent until they landed not far from the net-makers' street, and then
touching a lad on the shoulder who had pulled one of the boats, called him
aside and said to him,

`Go, see my father home, Tripeti, and stay there until I come, which will
be shortly. Go. I have matters that will keep me abroad awhile.'

Having seen him depart as he had directed, the hunchback turned to the
boatmen and a group of others who stood round him and said —

`My friends, you have done me service in saving me and my father. If

[figure description] Page 025.[end figure description]

the gods will, I will do you a service in return which shall compensate you
and your children's children after you.'

`We need none, good Hucha,' said they all. `We are happy to have
saved you, for you are like a son and a brother to us.'

`Am I indeed so loved?' he inquired with feeling — `then show all your
love for me,' he added with enthusiasm, `by being ready to stand by me
when I shall call upon you.'

`What does your language and manner import?' they asked with surprise.

`Is there a man here that hath not had some injury at the hand of the
nobles?'

`Hush, young man! This is rash language here,' said a staid old boatman,
laying his hand rudely upon him.

`Answer me! Have ye not been wronged?' he repeated without regarding
the warning. `Nay — then gather about me and I will speak to
thee in a slave's tone. My fellow bondmen,' he said, as they drew near him,
`I will answer for you to a man. Here stands Harani, the refiner, whose
eldest boy was impaled for striking a Flascalan who would have dragged off
his sweet-heart to a nobleman's harem. Here stands Uhman, the waterman,
whose young bride was rifled from his nuptial couch, ere he had pressed it,
by a lieutenant of the Emperor's guards. I see here Pireni, the silver-smith,
who lay in the dungeons of the castle three years, till his last xu of silver
was tortured from him. I see here Hurequa, the barge-keeper, Emba, Coro
and Zacuri, who have each been victims of oppression.' He paused and
looked round upon them.

There was a low but unanimous assent.

`This, then, you feel, and dare acknowledge. Thank the gods for this one
step. How many of ourselves, think you, brethren, are there in Mexico that
endure bondage?'

`One million, perhaps,' answered several.

`And thirty thousand nobles, who are the masters, with the tyrant, Ulyd,
at their head.'

`What will this drift to?' asked one of the fishermen, cautiously, of his
fellow.

`It will drift,' answered the young man, whose quick ear had overheard
this, `to placing this million in the possession of their natural rights, which
these thirty thousand nobles unjustly withhold from them. We are men as
well as they. They have no right over our lives and liberties. Let us,
then, assert them, and break those chains that shackle us. As for me, I am
resolved to be free. The first blow will soon be struck. The time is ripening;
and, then, when you hear me call upon you — rise, freemen!'

The young man turned and walked away, leaving them gazing upon each
other, in mute surprise, fear, and wonder. The Mexicans had, for several
centuries, been under the sanguinary yoke of the most degrading servitude,
to an aristocracy that haughtily imagined them to belong to an inferior
species to themselves. Their persons, lands, and goods were the property
of the Emperor, who transferred them, at pleasure, to the noblemen of his
court. They had so long been accustomed to the distinction between themselves
and the nobles, that they never looked to any change in their destinies,
or scarce thought of exercising any other will than that of their masters.
They were mild, industrious, and intelligent; and, save their political
and social condition, shared all the elements that compose useful citizens.
The artisans of this caste were skillful beyond those of any other nation of

[figure description] Page 026.[end figure description]

the world, and, so fond was the Emperor and the nobles of architectural and
artificial display, were the most numerous of all. There was, besides, those
of whom was composed the vast overflowing population of the city, a still
lower and more degraded caste, attached to the soil, whose occupation was
that of agriculture. The household servants of the Emperor and nobles
were brought from distant provinces, and were of a different race from the
Mexicans, being chiefly from the country of the Xamiltepec and Flascalan—
the natives of the latter being always selected as attendants on the harems
of the nobles. The army of the Emperor was composed of the bondmen
appendant of the soil, each noble bringing into the field a certain number;
and so numerous vere the vassals of this degree, that each knight could, at
any moment, place himself at the head of from six to ten thousand of his
personal retainers.

Such was the political condition of the empire of the opulent and luxurious
Aztecs at this period. Revolts, from time to time, had occurred among the soldiery,
and, even in former times, among the artisans in the city; but they were
speedily suppressed; and even the neighboring empire of Peru, the policy
of which was similar, had been twice revolutionized within a century. Nevertheless,
this state of feudal vassalage and sole imperial power, continued still
to exist unshaken — the subjects of it submissive and passive, if not content
with their chains. But a new spirit was awakened, by a series of wrongs, in
the breasts of two or three individuals of the enslaved mass, whose spirits had
not bowed so low as their fellows, and Liberty seemed about to descend and
once more make her abode among them.

`We are, indeed, slaves,' said one of the group, after Hucha had disappeared.
`The hunchback speaks well. We are no better than the
Xamiltepec, or base Flascalan. He speaks truth.'

`It is true,' answered Pireni, the silver-smith. `I think the Emperor
should treat us better.'

`'T is not better treatment we desire from the Emperor,' said Uhman, the
water-man; `it is freedom we want. We want to feel that our wives and
daughters are our own, and not the licentious nobles' — that our houses,
goods, and coin are ours.'

`This were a good thing, could it happen so,' said Hunaqua, the barge-keeper;
`but we wont see it in our day, neighbors.'

`No, no; not in our day; we must be content,' was the general response;
and then glancing timidly round, to see if they had been noted conversing
together, they separated, each man going to his own home. But the startling
subject of their conference was not banished from any of their minds.
The brand had been thrown, and waited only for the wind to fan it.

The hunchback took his way along the water side, until he came to a
narrow, steep street, that led from the canal to a hill top, crowned by a
temple, erected to the god of war. This was the street of The Armorers.
It was nearly deserted, for it was already evening; and the young man
glided along the dark fronts of the buildings, beneath the overshadowing balconies,
for some distance, without meeting any one. His step was firm, his
pace swift, and his course decided and unhesitating. At length he stopped,
opposite a long building, of more imposing appearance than others in the
street, on the front of which was hung out a gigantic shield, showing the
craft of the occupant — for the character of every shop in the street was designated
by a brazen helmet, a sword or spear head, a cuirass or gauntlet, or
some part of knightly garniture, each portion of armor having its own

[figure description] Page 027.[end figure description]

appropriate craftsman. The hunchback, after a moment's delay before the building,
crossed the street towards it, and struck upon the door.

`Is it thou, Sismarqui?' asked a voice within.

`It is Hucha,' answered the young man, in a low tone.

`Hucha! and, pray, what dost thou here, good youth, after night-coming?'
said a large, heavy man, opening the door from within, and taking him by
the hand, in a friendly manner.

`Let me enter, Ota, and I will inform thee of my business.'

He passed by him into the shop as he spoke; and the armorer, closing
the door, turned towards him.

`Ota,' asked the hunchback, in an assumed, careless tone, glancing about
the low shop, which was hung around with shields, `how many shields hast
thou here? thy craft is thriving.'

`Some seven hundred. Yes, Hucha, 't is a busy trade.'

`And thou art getting rich, doubtless?'

`Rich! Doth not the Emperor's armorer pay me eleven brass xu a day,
and doth he not pay the same to all artisans, of whatever trade, in Mexico,
taking their labor. Who getteth rich, that thou talkest thus, boy?' he replied,
angrily.

`Were the recompense of thy labor thine, Ota, how many siver xu couldst
thou, and thy score of apprentices, earn in a day?'

`Silver xu? The Emperor's lieutenant, at the armory, receives from each
knight five golden xu for each shield I emboss with the royal eagle, and a
golden tsi in addition, if I add to them a sun in low relief.'

`Thou wouldst be a happy man, Ota, would the Emperor give thee thy
honestly earned profits.'

`I could buy the third part of this street in one year's labor.'

`I would thou wert, rich, for I know thou lovest money.'

`It were a hungry love in Mexico, Hucha. I would to God I had been
born a noble.'

`Ah! dost thou love them so well as that?' asked the artful hunchback.

`Nay, I love them not, for I get little good by them — though I live by
their armor. I would be a noble only for the wealth and power it would
give me.'

`Dost thou, then, believe that their wealth and power is all that elevates
them, and the want of which degrades thee?' demanded the young man,
eagerly.

`I did not think so when I was a youth like thyself,' replied the stout
armorer, in a more cautious tone, as if he thought he was speaking too
boldly; `but I have thought since it might be the case.'

`Thou hast thought justly,' cried the hunchback, with enthusiasm. `They
have no natural rights that are not equally our own — slaves, bondmen,
serfs as we are. Ota, the time has come when the million of degraded
Mexitili must think for themselves. Light from the bright Sun, celestial
moral light is breaking upon my mind, and I see its beams illuminating
yours. I have visited you to feel your pulse. I find, though other causes
move it, it beats kindred to mine. I am resolved not to sleep till I have
sounded others I have in my mind — thy son, Sismarqui, and my cousin,
Montezuma, being first among them. I think I know their tempers, though,
hitherto, we have conversed on this deep matter but with our eyes, when we
have witnessed wrong we dared not avenge. But the time is coming!
Pledge me thy hand and sacred oath, thou wilt be ready to answer a call to
free thyself and all thou lovest from bondage.'

[figure description] Page 028.[end figure description]

`Thou art jesting, Hucha,' said Ota, bewildered.

`It will be no jest, if I can inspire but five hundred of my fellow bondmen
with my spirit. I tell thee, armorer, if I can make thirty young men,
whom I shall call upon to night, listen to me, I can move a power that shall
make the nobles of the empire shake in their gilded palaces.'

`By the gods! young man, I have half caught thy spirit. Hist! Let us
discourse lower. Let me hear thy plan. Thy words have broke the shell
of a nut I have been cracking within my teeth for twenty years.'

They walked apart, a few moments, in close conversation, and then the
armorer, as if replying to some question he had finally put to him, said —

`Come hither, and I will show thee.'

He led him towards a door, at the extremity of the shop, and they passed
through it, and crossed a narrow court, to a door that led into the rear of the
adjacent building.

`Now, if thou canst get Insquini, the old sword-maker, to join us, his influence
will bring in two thirds of the armorers, with their apprentices, in
this street.'

They knocked at the door, which was opened by a small, old man, who,
nevertheless, possessed much of the bearing and fire of youth in his appearance.

`Ah! neighbor, is it thou? I was about retiring for the night,' he said,
neither repelling nor inviting them to enter.

`I have brought thee Hucha, the hunchback, who would speak a word
with thee, touching matters, I think, will find thine a willing ear.'

Insquini, on seeing the hunchback, extended his hand frankly towards
him, and said —

`Come in, young friend! 'T is over late — but thy company is always
welcome — ever ready at a song thou — ever with a pleasant tale on thy lip.
Come in — come in!'

They entered the shop, and Hucha's eyes glistened, as the lamp the sword-maker
held gleamed along tiers of swords, arranged symmetrically on the
sides of the long, narrow apartment. It was impossible to read, otherwise
than truly, the language that glowed in them, as he surveyed the steely
array.

`Insquini, thou makest a goodly show of steel, here,' he said, carelessly.
`Doubtless, thou hast a thousand good blades there?'

`Better than that, master. Eighteen hundred at the most — besides a
stack of seven hundred sent here to day to burnish, not yet unpacked.'

`What dost thou make swords for, Insquini?'

`Make swords for, boy?'

`Aye, what are they for? What is their use?'

`Nay — thou art disposed to be merry with an old man, and quibble his
dull brain with a riddle.'

`I was never more serious in my life.'

`I make them for knights and nobles; and I have even burnished a sword
for the Emperor's own use, before I got so old.'

`And what do the knights and nobles with those swords when they get
them?'

`Use them in battle.'

`How long is it since our knights fought in battle?'

`It is seven — nay, eight years.'

`And thou hast had no work in swords since then, Insquini.'

[figure description] Page 029.[end figure description]

`Bless you, Hucha! It would seem the swords have been made three to
one since then.'

`What is done with them?'

`The nobles or knights, our masters, wear them in bravery by the side, as
it were.'

`And they have made no manner of use of them, then, for eight years.'

`Use! Doth not every gallant slay his man a day?' said the sword-maker,
laughing. `There hath been little idle steel, master hunchback!
Ha, ha, ha! Our knights keep themselves in practice.'

`How?' demanded the hunchback, coming close to him, and speaking
sternly.

`How!' repeated the sword-maker, starting back a step, alarmed at this
sudden alteration in his hitherto apparently indifferent tone and manner.

`Yes — how do they keep their swords in play — on wlat objects?'

`Why, surely, master Hucha, upon we citizens about,' replied the artificer,
with a forced laugh; `if we please not their humor.'

`Upon we citizens about, if we please not their humor!' repeated the
young man, with biting irony, mingled with grief. `Yes, thou hast well
said, Inisquini! Would to the gods, the next knight that crosses thy threshhold
would thrust thee through, and impale thee to the side of thy shop, to
test the temper of thy swords.'

`Dost thou wish it, cruel youth?' asked the sword-maker, with surprise
and injured feeling.

`Dost thou?' demanded Hucha, with imperative emphasis.

`No, surely,' said the man, with a shudder.

`Yet, it may happen to thee, any day. Dost thou never think of it?'

`Often; but I have escaped all my life, till now.'

`Because thy occupation was useful to them, and thou hast been cunning
in thy speech, with a slave's wisdom. But, passing by thyself — thou hast
five sons, who work with thee at thy craft.'

`Hath harm come to them?' asked the old man, grasping the wrist of
the hunchback, and looking eagerly for his reply.

`No — that I have knowledge of; but thou hast no peace in them. They
may be slain before thy face, and thou not be able to save them.'

`I know it — I fear it hourly,' answered Insquini, with paternal feeling.

`Old man, what wouldst thou do if thou couldst insure thy sons' lives to
good old age?'

`Sacrifice myself to the gods,' answered the father, fervently.

`I know thou wouldst. But thou canst effect it easier. Thou art an old
man, and have seen and thought much. I need not tell thee that the nobles
who enslave us do it not because they are more powerful in number than
we, but because we are the most degraded in spirit?' Is it not so?'

`Hush! thou wilt be heard,' cried Inisquini, with fear.

`Is it not so?' repeated Hucha, more determinedly.

`I have thought it was; but —'

`It is so. If thou and thy five sons should this moment be sent for by
any dissolute noble, to be set up for a pastime, and then slain, you would
weep, and wail, and wring your hands, and implore the gods; but yet you
would go, like bullocks dragged to the altar of sacrifice.'

The old man looked timidly round, and shrunk within himself with mortal
fear, as if he expected to hear at his door the supposed summons. `Go,
Hucha, go; thou wilt assuredly bring death upon me and mine,' he cried,
trembling.

[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

`Inisquini,' said the young man, solemnly, `I know thou hast a resolute
spirit by nature, and art considered wise above thy fellow-craftsmen. I will
be brief with thee. In a word — within three days the power of the nobles
shall be overthrown, the chains that bind us shall be sundered, and every
serf in Mexico shall be free as heaven's own light.'

`Madman!' cried the sword-maker, with angry surprise.

`There is method in my madness. Listen: I have been, this night, injured
beyond my forbearance, by these nobles. They cast my father into
the canal, for sport, and, but for me, he would have perished; and me they
mocked with jeers and jests that have stung me to the soul. No, Inisquini!
I shall be passive no longer. Thirty thousand nobles shall not keep their
feet on the necks of a million men, that can walk with their faces heavenward.
I shall neither sleep nor eat till I have awakened in the breast of every
man in whom bondage has yet left man's moral courage, the spirit of retributive
vengeance against our oppressors.

The sword-maker gazed upon the glowing and indignant face of Hucha
for a few seconds after he had ceased, and then paced the floor with a hasty
step. The hunchback pressed the hand of the armorer, Ota, and smiled
victoriously as he looked after him, and witnessed the effect of his words.

`The fire takes,' he said; and added, feelingly, `my degraded fellow-bondmen
will yet assert their rights!'

`Hucha, there is my hand!' at length said the sword-maker, in a firm
voice; `it were better to die, as surely we must, if we attempt this thing and
fail, than live longer so.'

`We shall not die! the gods favor it,' said Hucha, elevating his right hand
towards heaven with a look of kindling enthusiasm. `Let us three embrace
and swear by the sun, our sacred father, we will devote ourselves to this
cause!'

We swear!' all three repeated, in one voice together, stretching their
hands towards the East.

`Now, noble Inisquini,' said the youth, smiling, and glancing at the serried
lines of blades, `we have twenty-five hundred swords. Is it not so?'

`How?' demanded the sword-maker, with astonishment.

`When I came in we had seven hundred shields. Was it not so, Ota?'
said Hucha drily.

The sword-maker turned upon the armorer, and asked, incredulously,

`Hast thou indeed given the emperor's shields to this enterprise?'

`Shall we send them with these swords to him and his knights, to use
against us, should this matter come to a head,' replied Ota, ironically.

`Be it so,' said Inisquini, acquiescing in a measure that at first startled
him, from its magnitude, `I did not think this was so well-shaped a plan. I
can see deeper into it. Hucha, go, with my blessing! Be shrewd, cautious,
and bold.'

`Thou must labor, too. With thy sons and apprentices, and those of Ota,
there are already sixty men counted. They must know it only at the last
moment, when they are wanted for action. They are sure?'

`Sure to do our bidding,' replied both of the artificers together.

`You now know my plan,' said Hucha. `I go now to communicate it to
others. You must be equally diligent to-night and to-morrow in sounding
the armorers through the street. Ten thousand men ought to be communicated
with, each one converting his fellow, by to-morrow's sunset.'

`For arms,' said Inisquini, `a thousand suits of armor, and swords and
spears enough for twelve thousand men, can be found at hand in this street.'

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`And I will bring twelve thousand men to demand them,' said the hunchback,
with energy. `Now fare thee well. I must see thy son Sismarqui
to-night, Ota, and, above all, I must see Montezuma.'

`Sismarqui was sent to the armory, but I think Montezuma's fair sister
hath beguiled him of his time on his way back, or he would have been at
home ere this.'

The hunchback bit his lips as he alluded to his cousin Fatziza, as though
he did not relish the coupling of her name with that of the armorer's son —
but he said nothing. Grasping the hand of Inisquini, and again urging upon
him to kindle the spirit of insurrection in the breasts of all his trustiest acquaintances,
he left him, after the latter had placed in his hand a short, two-edged
sword, of the finest temper, and with the embosser returned to his
shop by the way he had come.

When Sismarqui returns, say nothing to him of this matter until I meet
him,' he said, as Ota opened the street door to let him out. I will pass here
again before midnight, and give your door a tap to see if he is in, should I
not find him at the net-maker's. Be faithful and true, and thou wilt yet
have thy most glittering visions of wealth realized.'

With these words, the hunchback bade the armorer good night, and issued
forth into the street. He proceeded a short distance along the west side of
it, and entered a shop which was not yet closed. The sign above the door
was a pike. He remained within, ten or twelve minutes, and re-appeared
with an elastic step, and proceeded to an artificer's opposite, and tapped at a
low door, above which was the sign of a helmet, and in a moment after disappeared
within. Scarcely had he done so before the embosser's door, and
that of Inisquini simultaneously opened, and both made their appearance
wrapped in their scarfs. They met, and conferred an instant on the walk,
and then, separating, pursued different ways, with the air of men bent on
some deep and secret purpose. As Inisquini glided past the shop designated
by the helmet, the hunchback came out.

`Hucha! is it thou?'

`Ah! 't is Inisquini!' returned the other, after a scrutinizing glance.

`What of Requa?'

`The gods seem to have gone before me and breathed into men the spirit
of liberty,' was the animated reply of the young man. `I have only, it
would seem, to lift a standard on yonder summit of the hill of the temple, to
gather a host.'

`Be not rash. Let us proceed safely that we may gain securely,' said the
sword-maker. `Leave this street to Ota and myself, and go you and see
such as live beyond this quarter, whom you think will join us. Let every
thing be secret and sacred till the day and hour be rife. We are moving
abroad with our lives in our open palms.'

`I will then seek Montezuma first,' said Hucha, as he parted from him;
I rely greatly on his judgment and sagacity, if he will join us.'

`We meet at midnight, at my house,' said Inisquini.

`At midnight, then, we shall know whether we are to live slaves, or die
men,' answered Hucha.

Inisquini then parted from him and entered the shop of a halberd-maker,
while the hunchback, after going a short distance in the opposite direction,
turned a corner, and pursued his way along a thoroughfare that led towards
the net-makers' street.

CHAPTER V. MONTEZUMA.

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The quarter of the city in which occurred the tumult and massacre of so
many citizens, in consequence of the intrepid and spirited conduct of the
young scrf Montezuma, in wresting the noble's spear from him, as it was
entering his bosom, was situated towards the East gate, nearly a mile from
the palace, and two thirds of a mile from the net-makers' street, and on the
same side of the canal with the latter. The street in which it occurred was
one of four great avenues that extended from East to West, across the
city, passing over the marble bridges of the canal. In this quarter, the
citizens — if men may be so called that are not freemen — were chiefly lapidaries,
and workers in marble, builders, and architects, each craft having its
own street for its peculiar pursuits. It was near the entrance of the street
of lapidaries, where it terminated in an open square, containing an altar to
the god of war, that the fray in which the youth was so conspicuous, occurred.
The magnificent procession flowed on, like a river of silken and
golden waves, bearing upon its tide banners, spears, helmets, and plumes,
and moving to the sound of music of the most brilliant and martial description.
When the last of the procession, which consisted of a troop of horsemen,
clad in steel from peak to spur, had passed by, the multitude, which had
remained motionless and still from the moment the slaughter ceased, gave
breath to a low, deep, long pent-up murmur. There was a slight movement,
and every eye was instinctively turned towards the young man who had been
the cause of the tumult. Montezuma was leaning upon the broken spear-shaft
he had wrested from the governor of the guard, gazing sternly upon
the dead and dying that lay in their blood at his feet. He at length looked up,
as if he felt their eyes upon him, and, glancing round upon them, again bent his
gaze upon the slain, and remained silent. Of the thousands in that multitude,
there were but few that had seen the young net-maker before his resistance to
the noble who commanded the emperor's guard. Five or six alone of those
about him were his friends and acquaintances; and so dearly had he attached
himself to these, by years of intercourse with them, that no sooner did they
see his life threatened, than, though overcome with surprise at his daring to
resist, they cast themselves before him, not to strike a blow in his defence —
for, until this day, this no bondman had dared do — but to cover him with
their bodies. One after another they fell, cut down by the soldiery, when
those around, struck by this devotion, animated by the bold spirit of the
young man, who seemed by the presence of his commanding countenance, to
command their lives, and filled with that new spirit of freedom which seems
at times to descend upon a nation in one day, and as if inspired by the souls of
the fallen, impulsively cast themselves before the breast which had become
the target of so many sanguinary spears, and received in their bodies the
deadly wounds so fatally aimed at him.

Some of the surviving friends of the slain at length broke the silence,
and began to cry out loudly against him, and accuse him of their death.
Others regarded him as if he had been a superior being, and there threatened
to be a division among them.

`Men and fellow-bondmen, why stand ye here, gazing upon me, as if I

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were not of like flesh and blood?' he cried, looking round upon them with
stern pity. `Wherefore do ye murmur with yourselves? I have resisted a
noble, and there lie in our midst eighteen dead men who have paid with
their lives for my offence. They are your brethren and mine. I am guilty
of their death. Let him who is the most degraded slave among ye, strike
through the heart that these brave men died to protect.'

As he spoke, he bowed his manly bosom, and seemed to pause and await
the death he demanded.

`Ye are silent! I am not accused. Men and brethren, these dead men
fell not by my hand, though by daring to resist a tyrant, I have been instrumental
to their death. They fell by the swords of assassins — they are the
victims of the emperor's retributive vengeance. His wrath, which, for the
kindness of some of ye could not reach me, fell upon these! Was it a just
deed to slay these men? I wait for your reply.'

`No — no,' cried several stern voices.

`There spoke the true spirit I would rouse in ye. Hear me! We are
within the walls of Mexico nine hundred thousand slaves, with skins as fair
and hearts as warm as our masters.'

There was an extraordinary movement in the throng, and a confused,
agitated murmur at these words, so new to their ears, and they listened with
pale, eager faces, in which was settled a look of intense expectation, as he
continued.

`And who are these masters? A sanguinary emperor whom you never
behold but with fear of your lives; a body of haughty knights and nobles
of the same spirit with himself, whose pastime it is to slay your sons and
brothers in the streets, for imaginary offences, and violate the honor of your
wives and daughters.'

`True, true,' cried a single voice near him; `true,' echoed a second; `it is
all true,' was taken up by one and another, till a hundred voices responded,
at first, faintly, but as their numbers increased, with almost menacing firmness.
Montezuma looked around and smiled, while he lifted his hands to
heaven in gratitude.

`The gods be thanked! I perceive there is coming a day of reckoning for
our masters! Who are these masters? A body not a fiftieth part so
numerous as ourselves, enervated by luxury, and idle and dissolute, because
supported by the unrewarded labor of our own hands. What right, brethren,
has the emperor to seize upon the fruits of your toil? By what claim does
the knight and noble hold the wages earned by the sweat of your brows?
If you earn twelve silver xu a day, by what authority does the emperor take
eleven — aye, and the twelfth, if he choose — and cut off your heads and
cast your bodies into the kennel if ye dare to murmur! What joy has the
mother in her first born, or the father in the son of his strength, or the bridegroom
in his bride, or the brother in his sister's love, if they may be at any
moment torn from the embraces of your affections, and become the property
of tyrants, murderers, and adulterers?'

There was an evidence of the deepest feeling pervading the multitude, as
they listened to language such as none had ever listened to before, and
received ideas that few present had dared entertain, even in the secret closets
of their own hearts. Some who heard him, and had gathered near him from
the first, had partaken of his spirit, and had evidently long thought as he
did. There was visible an elated joy in their stern countenances that showed
they had at last found a spirit to whose guidance they could safely and freely

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surrender themselves, with their crude and half-formed notions of liberty, which,
until this occasion, had been cherished secretly and timidly in their bosoms.
Montezuma dreamt not such a spirit was alive in Mexico. But when the
magnetized steel comes in contact with metals, all that is true steel, though
not at first discerned, at once flies to meet it. He soon found about him a
score of young and middle-aged men, in whom he saw a spirit kindred with
his own. He instantly took advantage of the impression he had made, not
only on them, but on the whole multitude.

Fellow-bondmen! It is time we should know our rights as men, and
citizens of this empire. We and our fathers have been slaves full long to
the emperor and his haughty nobility. Let us break our chains, and elevate
our condition to that of freemen. Let us demand of him protection, by just
laws, for our lives, our possessions, and our domestic honor. Let us secure
to ourselves the right of property in lands, and goods, and tenements, and no
longer hold them, with our lives, at his will. Let us retain for our own
maintenance, and towards the accumulation of wealth, the proceeds of our
toil, which now flows into his coffers. In fine, let us become freemen! If
the emperor will consent to this, his throne shall rest secure, and we will
defend it with our lives — if he will not, let us hurl him from it, and establish
a government that shall secure to us those political and social rights that
belong to mankind. Behold,' he cried, pointing to the heap of slain, `behold
the first sacrifice on the altar of our liberties. It was the gods alone
who inspired these men to this act of fatal devotion. Let the spot where
they lie be sacred. Let their bodies be the altar by which we will kneel
and swear to deliver ourselves from bondage, or die as they have died!'

A commotion like that of the wind sweeping across heaving waves rose
upon the air. It was not loud, but deep and earnest. Every man in the
vast multitude seemed moved with the feelings he had awakened. Every
bosom of the thousand bondmen seemed struggling to break from its chains.
The eye of the young insurgent kindled as he beheld the effect produced.
It was the crisis, and he seized it. Elevating his arms, he called on the
gods to bear witness, and stretching his right hand towards the setting sun,
he solemnly adjured this sacred deity to behold his act; then, bending over
the dead, he laid his left hand upon the pile of slain, and lifting the other
towards the heavens, cried, in a voice that rung like a trumpet,

`Behold, ye gods, and thou, most sacred sun! Here, on this consecrated
altar, I swear to be the liberator of my country. Swear, ye who will with
me be free!'

A thousand arms were lifted toward heaven, and a thousand voices
responded,

`We swear!'

Moutezuma looked around upon them as they ceased, and, spreading out
his hands over them, fervently blessed them, from the enthusiasm of his full
and ardent feelings.

`Yes, my friends!' he added, `this spirit is from the gods, and not of ourselves.
Let us feel that we are acting under their guidance, and are protected
by their power. Now, I pray you, retire to your abodes in quiet,
until the hour is rife. It may be at midnight — it may be at sunrise. The
signal shall be a flame on the summit of the temple of the god of war, which
we shall first seize and defend. In the mean while be ready to act, and
busily spread the spirit of revolt throughout your quarter. I hasten to my
own quarter, in the centre of the city, which I shall rouse, if the gods go with

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

me. Let not the rumor reach the palace; and, lest any traitor should seek
to betray our open plot ere it be matured, at once guard the avenues from
your quarter, and let no man leave it. Ha! yonder moves hastily away
a Flascalan eunuch of the palace, and there sits upon horseback, on the out-skirts,
a cavalier. Seize them both! Let this deed show your sincerity.'

The Flascalan fled, and succeeded in making his escape, but the other was
instantly surrounded, and would have been bodily torn from his horse to the
earth, when the knight, who had coolly permitted them to approach within a
few feet of him, unmoved, suddenly cired,

`I will betray you not, brave citizens! Conduct me to your leader, for I
would speak with him.'

`Give up thy sword, then, master,' said one of the most resolute and
zealous of the insurgents.

`Take it,' he replied, giving it readily to him.

As the crowd retired to either side, to let the knight pass through, the
young chief eyed him, first with suspicion, and then with the closest curiosity.
He was a man of large stature, and courteous bearing, and rode one of those
powerful, black horses, of the warlike breed, imported from Peru. His
armor was plain, but not in fashion, like that worn by the Aztec nobles, and
there was no device upon his shield, and on his brazen helmet was the crest
of a lion, instead of the Aztec eagle. His visor was closed; but the short,
light, brown hair escaped beneath his casque, and rested on his shapely
shoulders. As he approached Montezuma, who stood in the space where
lay the dead bodies, his horse reared so powerfully as to threaten to fall
backwards upon his rider, who kept his seat as unmoved as if the motions of
the animal were the result of his own will. The silence and expectation
of the crowd was immense as he came near.

`Young man,' he said, in a tone slightly of reproof, `thou art hasty in
setting upon a knight with such deadly purpose as these friends of thine but
now manifested towards me.'

`Thou wert a listener, noble, to treason. Thou shouldst have held on thy
way, and thou wouldst not have been a prisoner, as now. But methinks
thou art not of Mexico, by thy speech and device.'

`I am a Peruvian, having but this hour entered your city, and having
been witness of thy spirit as I delayed to gaze on the religious procession
and the beauty of the emperor's fair daughter, I was unawares a witness of
what has followed, and did listen to your speech, brave youth, with a delighted
bosom. I am a Peruvian, and can sympathize with thee.'

`If thou art a Peruvian, then thou art welcome; for I am told there are
no bondmen in Peru, but that the Inca is father to a nation of children. Is
it so, knight?'

`Thou hast been well informed,' replied the knight. `Peace, love, and
contentment dwell with us, and justice and mercy are as the right and left
hands of the Inca, our father.'

`Peru is the land of freedom, friends,' cried Montezuma. `Let us confer
upon Mexico the same blessings. Pray, sir knight, whither do you ride?
through the city? Thou art free to go.'

`Nay, I am but a stranger, and know no hostel better than another. If
either among you could give me hospitality till the morning, I should prefer
it, as my business hither requires that I should be awhile private.'

`Thou shalt go with me, noble sir,' said Montezuma, `though thou wilt
find but poor fare and rude entertainment beneath a net-maker's roof.'

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`It is good enough, young man. I will be thy guest; and it may be I can
advise thee somewhat as to guiding the direction of this vast flood thou hast
so boldly unbanked; and if thou wilt, when I shall get through my affairs,
accept my arm and good sword; they shall be freely given to thy cause.'

In a few moments afterwards, the multitude retired from the square to
their several homes, to arm and prepare for the contemplated revolt. The
success of Montezuma in rousing them to action, showed that the love of
liberty is inherent in the human heart, and that, however it may be obscured,
it is never wholly extinguished. Not five men in degraded and enslaved
Mexico until this day had ever spoken the word, and few knew that
there was such a thing as liberty. But the manner in which they received
it when it was pronounced, told plainly that the chord was in their bosoms,
and had hitherto been silent for want of a bold hand to strike it.

Still did Montezuma dream, that the spirit that was kindled in his bosom
was at the same moment firing the breast of the bold young armorer, Sismarqui,
rung a mile distant in the net-maker's street, and would shortly,
uninfluenced by either voluntarily, animate the soul of the insulted hunchback.
But Liberty, when she would be worshipped on earth, erects her statue in
such temples as she will; and this evening the sacred flame of freedom,
simultaneously lighted by her own hand, blazed from the chosen altars of
three of the noblest hearts in Mexico.

`Sir knight,' said Montezuma, when the citizens had retired from the
place, which they did in deep and solemn silence, as if their newly awakened
feelings were too serious for words, `dost thou note that deep undercurrent?
how mighty its flow — yet how noiseless! It is this that is going to undermine
the palaces of our masters, and sweep away the ruins, till there shall not be
left a column on its pedestal.'

`Thou hast set in motion a fearful power, young man,' said the knight,
gravely, `which, uncontrolled, will overthrow not only this fair empire, but
recoil upon itself to its own whelming ruin. Pray, as we go along, give me
the history of this matter of public grievance.'

Montezuma pointed to the heap of slain.

`There is written to-day's page of wrongs. Each day hath its leaf.'

`Nay — I know all this. The laws and government and manners of thy
empire we in Peru are not strangers to. I see that you have, at last, revolted,
and are meditating the subversion of the throne. But what is the
mode of government, with which thou wouldst replace the present? Wouldst
thou slay the emperor and the nobles, and let each man be his own governor?
'

`No, knight; this were exchanging tyranny for anarchy. I would not
destroy the throne, but purify it. The emperor should be the ruler of his
people — not their master.'

`You would destroy, then, the barriers that stand between you and the
nobility, leave their rank open to the deserving among yourselves, and from
vassals and appendages to the power of the nobles, become free and inpendent
citizens, with none but political subjection to the emperior.'

`It is this we aim at,' said Montezuma, with animation, `alone.'

`You, yourself, may aim at what you will, young man, if, as it seems, the
gods have decreed you to be leader in this revolt. Take care your virtue
be not wrecked, when ambition take the helm!'

`Nay, by the sacred sun, knight!' said the youth, warmly. `Let my
hopes of my country's freedom be realized to the extent you name, and I
will be content after to be offered the first sacrifice to the gods.'

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`Such is thy present spirit, because thou art not yet tempted. Methinks,'
he then said, carelessly, `it was the beauty of the princess Eylla, whom I
beheld in the chariot, that led thee to thrust thyself in the way of the rude
knight's spear, and that now threatens to overturn Mexico.'

`How knowest thou it was the Princess Eylla, Peruvian, if thou hast but
now entered the city a stranger?' asked the young Mexitlian, sternly, looking
suspiciously upon him, as if he sought to penetrate the bars of his closed visor.
`I have been full free in my confidence?'

`Thou holdest my sword in thy hand, and a thousand men would be
obedient to thy sign,' answered the knight, calmly. `I inquired of a by-stander,
and he told me. I knew the emperor by his crown, and having
seen his face stamped upon thy coin.'

`Pardon me, knight. But this is a time when confidence should be given
cautiously, especially to one of thy rank. If thou art, as thou sayest, a
Peruvian, come hither on matters of private import, I seek not to penetrate
thy secret, and do again restore thee my confidence. If thou wilt follow me,
I will guide thee to my abode. I have much to do ere midnight.'

The knight dismounted, as if in courtesy to his companion, and, putting
his bridle on his arm, walked beside him. As they passed along through
the narrow and winding streets, the sight of a bondman and a knight walking
by together, drew many to the doors of their shops, and upon their
balconies.

`I did awhile since allude to the beauty of the emperor's daughter, young
man,' said the knight, as they went along, as if disposed to converse. `What
is her favor with the court?'

`She is lively, in mind as in person, and of a sweet and gentle temper —
in all things opposite to the emperor,' answered Montezuma, warmly.

`Hath she been sought in marriage, knowest thou?'

`It is rumored the haughty Prince Palipan will espouse her.'

`Ah! hath she regard for him?'

`Rumor saith not; but 't is the emperor's will, and there is none other in
the empire she can wed.'

The knight walked on in silence a little while, and then suddenly asked,

`When do these espousals take place?'

`Within seven days — on the anniversary of her twentieth birth-day.'

`She is very fair, surpassing my conception of her,' said the knight, after
a pause, as if discoursing with his own mind. He then said, turning to
Montezuma,

`Will not this revolt of the city thou hast on foot grieve this sweet
princess?'

`Nay, I had not thought of it. One would willingly remain a slave, to
shield her from sorrow.'

`Spoken gallantly. I am rejoiced to hear she hath such favor with those
of thy rank.'

`Thou takest singular interest in her for a Peruvian noble,' said Montezuma.

`The fame of her beauty hath reached our capital, and the Inca's son
hath been enamored of her in imagination. Her name is the theme of song
among knights and nobles.'

`It were better she were thy prince's bride than that of Prince Palipan,
said the youth, with animation; `yet, methinks, when I remember her gentle
beauty, I should rather she would not marry at all.'

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The knight turned his face towards him, as if struck by the manner rather
than by the words of the young man, and then said, with a light laugh,

`Have a care, young chief. There is no bound to the horizon of a youth's
ambition, when he hath once begun to climb.'

As the knight said this, they came near the ruins of what was once a
stately palace. It was now blackened with fire, and its court filled with rank
grass. It presented a scene of singular wildness and desolation in the midst
of a city so full of life.'

The Peruvian paused, and detained his companion by the arm, while he
earnestly surveyed it.

`It is the Axuzco palace,' said Montezuma.

The knight made no reply for some time. At length he said, in a voice
that had all at once become deep and stern,

`Young man, knowest thou the history of this ill-fated family?'

`'T is said — 't was when I was a boy it happened — that the Lord Axuzco
was a traitor, and so the emperor banished him, and razed his palace.'

`He was a traitor, young man, just as thou art now a traitor! He was a
patriotic and a brave man, and dared to tell the tyrant Ulyd his mind. At
length, sickened with the tyranny of the emperor and the licentiousness of
the nobles, with indignation and disgust he withdrew himself from them,
joined himself with the oppressed people, and raised the standard of revolt,
and shouted liberty to the enslaved. This palace was the seat of the conspiracy.
But the mass of the debased people knew not the cry, and did not
obey it. He was taken, with a few score of the boldest spirits, that had
united themselves to him, and cast into prison. His companions were decapitated
and quartered. He himself wrested the headman's axe from his
hands on the very seaffold, and, cutting his way through the soldiers with
the glittering instrument, unborsed a knight, leaped into his saddle, and
escaped through the gates.'

`I never heard of all this before,' said Montezuma, who had listened with
surprise to the knight's narrative.

`Because those with whom thou hast been dare not speak of it. The
name of Axuzco is accursed in Mexico by imperial decree.'

`Would to the gods we had this good knight's arm, now that people have
responded to the cry of liberty.'

`Young man,' said the knight, in an impressive voice, `thou hast thy wish.
Behold in me the banished lord of Axuzco!'

`Thou!' cried Montezuma, starting back at a name that he had but seldom
heard repeated, and with which he had hitherto associated the darkest
and most fearful qualities.

`Yes. I have come back, after eighteen years' exile, to see once more my
native land and the halls of my youth. The gods have brought me to my
journey's end this day, as if by design. Thou knowest not how my blood
leaped when I saw thee, ere I had got a furlong into the city, resist the
emperor's guard. I thanked heaven that I had found one man in Mexico
on my return. I could have embraced thee to my heart.'

`Noble lord of Axuzco —'

`Nay, I am but a simple Peruvian cavalier — my secret is with thee till I
see fit to reveal it — I but gave it into thy keeping as pledge of confidence.
Now I do think of it, I will e'en seek the naked hospitality of my own
abode. My steed will fare richly off the wild grass of the court, and I need
nothing. When thou needest my aid, thou wilt find me in yonder wing.
There was my chamber, and I would make friendship with its walls again.'

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

`Footstep hath not ventured there since thou left it, sir.”

`Then 't is the more sacred to my feelings. When thou dost think thyself
sufficiently safe to light thy beacon upon the Temple of War, come hither
with those friends thou takest into thy closest councils, and let once more
the standard of liberty be raised within these walls which the emperor's
curse hath consecrated to be its most sacred temple.'

As he spoke he grasped the young man's hand and led his horse beneath
the dilapidated archway of the ruin, and crossed the gloomy court in the
direction of the main body of the building, which, though partially destroyed,
still preserved the outline of its former stately character, and some remains
of its architectural beauty.

Montezuma, after lingering a moment till he saw him pass through the
ivy-mantled entrance to the hall, pursued his way, wondering at the events
that the last hour had produced. The day was nearly at a close when he
resumed his way, and he had gone but a few steps when the crimson light
of the altar fires illumined the sky and told him that the sun had set. He
stopped, and turning his face towards the west, crossed his hands upon his
breast, and for an instant worshipped, and then continued rapidly to walk
forward. At length he entered a narrow lane, lined on both sides with
dark gloomy buildings, and at the extremity was an arch and battlement
crowned by massive towers. The street led beneath this arch and lost
itself in a broader thoroughfare beyond which itself led to the canal touching
it not far above the net-makers' street.

He continued to walk rapidly forward through the lane, until he approached
the arch, where was stationed a guard to protect the armory,
which was a vast structure with long tiers of stone galleries in the midst of
a vast paved court, on the left of the archway. He still held the broken
pike in his hand, though scarcely conscious of possessing it.

Ha! Montezuma! what dost thou with the head of a knight's spear?'
said the soldier, a tall and almost gigantic man, in the tone of an acquaintance.
`There is blood upon it, too!'

`Hist, Gila!' said Montezuma, as he came near him. `When wilt thou
be off guard?'

`Within an hour, or little more.'

`Then come thou, on the instant thou art free, privately to my house.
I would speak with thee.'

`And what with the cruel Fatziza?'

`'T is sterner pastime I would invite thee to! When my sister gave the
preference to thy brother Sismarqui, thou didst say thou wouldst abide by
her decision and forget her. I trust thou hast.'

I find a steel corslet wont keep love out of the heart after he once hath
found the way in. I would go back to embossing shields instead of bearing
them — but the captain here took such a fancy to my make and inches, he
will not let me go — but talked to day of sending me to the emperor's life-guard.
'

`Come then to me the moment thou art at liberty,' said Montezuma, passing
him.

`But that bloody spear-head!'

`I will tell thee, by and by. We are on the eve of revolt. Has Sismarqui
been here to day for shields?'

`I expect him now, to bring half a score, that were ordered to be sent
home at this hour.'

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

If I meet him not, and he should come, tell him without delay to hasten
to me.'

With these words, Montezuma passed the tall man-at-arms, who it seemed,
had been taken into the guard from the clan of artisans, on account of his
strength and stature, and which he had joined as a cure for unrequited love.

Montezuma, on emerging from the arched passage, was proceeding at a
swift pace, when he met the apprentices of the embosser, bearing the shields
towards the armory.

`Where is Sismarqui?' he asked, stopping the first one, and addressing
him so sternly, from the depth of his feelings, that it was with difficulty he
could reply, and when he did, it was with what had been uppermost in their
minds since they had left the net-makers' street, ten minutes before.

`He hath unhorsed a knight!'

`What sayest thou?'

`He hath had a fray with a knight!' said the other, with more self-possession.

`Dost thou know what thou sayest?' he demanded, in the intensest surprise.

`A mounted knight, in passing the balcony, did give thy sister a kiss, and
young master Sismarqui, thereat, caught two of the shields and struck them
together so loudly that his horse leaped and threw him.'

`And what did the knight? what further did Sismarqui?' demanded the
young man, with breathless interest.

`The knight drew his sword, and rushed upon him —'

`Yes — yes —'

`And Sismarqui caught the blade on this shield — here is the dent — and
shivered it to the hilt.'

`And what then? Glorious Sismarqui!'

`The knight, after some fierce discourse, rode away.'

`And this you tell me is true?'

`Every word of it; here is the shield.'

`Let me see it. Ah! 't was well done! Liberty hath carved here her
own scutcheon,' he said, pressing his lips upon it. `I will take this sacred
shield! Pass on!'

`'T is for the armory.'

`It matters not whether it be taken now, or five hours hence. Leave it
with me.'

They continued on their way, after looking upon each other, as if wondering
at the meaning of his words, and he remained for a minute, gazing upon
the shield.

`I should regard the tale as a dream, but that I do behold here, with my
eyes, this deep indent upon the breast of the imperial eagle. This was
no chance stroke that lighted so truly upon this emblem of tyranny. Thus
shall the eagle himself be stricken! Sismarqui, thou art my soul's own
mate!'

`What dost thou, Montezuma, speaking to that shield?' said a voice close
to his ear.

Sismarqui, my brave Sismarqui!' was the only reply of the noble youth,
and he ardently embraced him.

`Art thou mad?' asked the young man, with surprise.

`Mad! yes, with joy! Look! dost thou know this device?'

'T was carved there by a knight, not half an hour since.'

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