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.'

[figure description] Page 031.[end figure description]

`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.

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