“Hagase tu voluntad en la tierra asi como en el cielo.”*
Then to Cortes, “I will follow these, my children.”

“Forward, then! Christ with us, and all the saints!”
cried Cortes. “Adelante! Christo y Santiago!”

In a moment they were swiftly climbing the lower stairway
of the temple.

Meantime Io', from the azoteas, kept watch on the combats
below. Two figures charmed his gaze, — that of Cortes and
that of the 'tzin, — both, in their separate ways, moving forward
slowly but certainly. Before he thought of descending,
the Christians were in the precinct of the coatapantli, and
after them streamed the long line of Tlascalans.

As we have seen, the prince had been in battles, and more
than once felt the joyous frenzy nowhere else to be found;
but now a dread fell upon him. Did Malinche's dream of
conquest reach the gods? Again and again he turned to
the sanctuaries, but the divine wrath came not forth, — only
the sonorous throbs of the drum. Once he went into
the presence chamber, which was full of kneeling pabas.
The teotuctli stood before the altar praying. Io' joined in the
invocation; but miracle there was not, neither was there
help; for when he came out, all the yard around the temple
was Malinche's.

Then Io' comprehended that this attack, unlike Escobar's,
was of method; for the ways of succor, which were also those
of retreat, were all closed. The supreme trial had come
early in his career. His spirit arose; he saw himself the
stay of the religion of his fathers; the gods leaned upon
him. On the roof and terraces were some two thousand
warriors, the fighting children of the valley: Tezcucans,
with countless glorious memories to sustain their native
pride; Cholulans, eager to avenge the sack of their city and
the massacre of their countrymen; Aztecs, full of the

[figure description] Page 514.[end figure description]

superiority of race, and the inspiration of ages of empire.
They would fight to the last man. He could trust them, as the
'tzin had trusted him. The struggle, moreover, besides being
of special interest on account of its religious character, would
be in mid-air, with the strangers and all the tribes and companies
as witnesses. So, with his caciques, he went down
to the landing at the top of the lower stairway.

A yell saluted Cortes when, at the head of the cavaliers,
he appeared on the steps, and, sword in hand and shield overhead,
commenced the perilous ascent. At the same time
javelins and spears began to rain upon the party from the
first terrace. Up they hurried. Half the height was gained
and not a man hurt, — not a foot delayed! Then, slowly
at first, but with longer leaps and increasing force, a block
of stone was started down the stairs. Fortunately, the
steps were broad, having been built for the accommodation of
processions. Down sped a warning cry; down as swiftly
plunged the danger. Olmedo saw three figures of men in
iron follow it headlong to the bottom; fast they fell, but not
too fast for his words of absolution; before the victims
touched the pavement, their sins were forgiven, and their
souls at rest in Paradise.

The stones and timbers placed on the landing by the 'tzin's
order were now laid hold of, and rolled and dragged to the
steps and hurled down. Thus ten Christians more were
slain. Even Cortes, deeming escape impossible, turned his
battle-cry into a prayer, and not in vain! From below, the
arquebusiers and cross-bowmen suddenly opened fire, which
they kept so close that, on the landing, the dead and
wounded speedily outnumbered the living.

“The saints are with us! Forward, swords of the Church!”
cried Cortes.

Before the infidels recovered from their panic, he passed
the last step, and stood upon the terrace. And there, first

[figure description] Page 515.[end figure description]

in front of him, first to meet him, was Io', whom pride and
zeal would not permit to retire.

The meeting — combat it can hardly be called — was very
brief. The blades of Io's maquahuitl broke at the first blow.
Cortes replied with a thrust of the sword, — quick, but true,
riving both the shield and the arm. A cacique dragged
the hapless boy out of reach of the second thrust, and took
his place before the conqueror.

The terrace so hardly gained was smoothly paved, and wide
enough for ten men to securely walk abreast; on the outer side
there was no railing or guard of any kind, nothing but a
descent of such height as to make a fall certainly fatal.
Four times the smooth, foot-worn pavement extended around
the temple, broken in its course by six grand stairways, the
last of which landed on the azoteas, one hundred and fifty
feet above the level of the street. Such was the highway
of the gods, up which the adventurous Christians essayed to
march, fighting.

“To my side, Sandoval! And ye, Alvarado, Morla,
Lugo, Ordas, Duero, — to my side!” said Cortes, defending
himself the while. “Make with me a line of shields across
the way. Let me hear your voices. No battle-cry here but
Christ and St. James! When ye are ready, shout, that I
may hear ye!”

One by one the brave gentlemen took their places; then
rose the cry, “Christo y Santiago! Christo y Santiago!”

And then the voice of Cortes, —

“Forward, my friends! Push the dogs! No quarter!
Christo y Santiago!”

Behind the line of shields moved the other cavaliers,
eager to help when help should be needed.

And then were shown the excellences of the sword in a
master's hand. The best shields of the infidels could not bar
its point; it overcame resistance so quietly that men fell,

[figure description] Page 516.[end figure description]

wounded, or slain outright, before they thought themselves
in danger; it won the terrace, and so rapidly that the Christians
were themselves astonished.

“Ola, compañeros!” said Cortes, who in the fiercest
mêleé was still the watchful captain. “Ola! Yonder riseth
the second stairway. That the heathen may not use the
vantage against us, keep we close to this pack. On their
heels! Closer!”

So they mounted the steps of the second stairway, fighting;
and the crowd which they kept between them and the
enemy on the landing was a better cover even than the fire
of the bowmen and arquebusiers. And so the terraces were
all taken. Of the eight other Christians who fell under
the stones and logs rolled upon them from the heights
above, two lived long enough to be shrived by the faithful
Olmedo.

The azoteas of the temple has been already described as a
broad, paved area, unobstructed except by the sacrificial
stones and the sanctuaries of Huitzil' and Tezca'. A more
dreadful place for battle cannot be imagined. The coming
and going of worshippers, singly or in processions, and of
barefooted pabas, to whom the dizzy height was all the world,
had worn its surface smooth as furbished iron. If, as the
combat rolled slowly around the terraces, rising higher, and
nearer the chiefs and warriors on the summit, — if, in faintness
of heart or hope, they looked for a way of escape, the
sky and the remote horizon were all they saw: escape was
impossible.

With many others disabled by wounds, Io' ascended to
the azoteas in advance of the fight; not in despair, but as
the faithful might, never doubting that, when the human
effort failed, Huitzil', the Omnipotent, would defend himself.
He passed through the ranks, and with brave words encouraged
the common resolve to conquer or die. Stopping upon

[figure description] Page 517.[end figure description]

the western verge, he looked down upon the palace, and lo!
there was a rest in the assault, except where the 'tzin fought,
with his back to the temple; and the thousands were standing
still, their faces upturned, — each where the strange
truce found him, — to behold the hunted gods in some
majestic form at last assert their divinity. So Io' knew, by
the whisperings of his own faith.

Again he turned prayerfully to the sanctuaries. At that
instant Cortes mounted the last step of the last stairway, —
after him the line of shields, and all the cavaliers, — after
them again, Olmedo with his crucifix! Then was wrought
an effect, simple enough of itself, but so timely that the
good man — forgetful that the image of Christ dead on the
cross is nothing without the story of his perfect love and sorrowful
death — found believers when he afterwards proclaimed
it a miracle. He held the sacred effigy up to be seen by all
the infidels; they gazed at it as at a god unfriendly to their
gods, and waited in awe for the beginning of a struggle between
the divine rivals; and while they waited, Cortes and
his cavaliers perfected their formation upon the azoteas, and
the bowmen and arquebusiers began to climb the second
stairway of the ascent. The moment of advantage was lost
to the Aztecs, and they paid the penalty.

Io' waited with the rest; from crucifix to sanctuary, and
sanctuary to crucifix, he turned; yet the gods nursed their
power. At last he awoke; too late! there was no escape.
Help of man was not possible, and the gods seemed to have
abandoned him.

“Tezcuco! Cholula! Tenochtitlan! Up, up, Tlateloco,
up!”

Over the azoteas his words rang piercing clear, and through
the ranks towards the Christians he rushed. The binding
of the spell was broken. Shook the banners, pealed war-cry,
conch, and atabal, — and the battle was joined.

[figure description] Page 518.[end figure description]

“Hold fast until our brethren come; then shall our swords
drink their fill! Christo y Santiago!”

Never was the voice of Cortes more confident.

Need, nevertheless, had the cavaliers for all their strength
and skill, even the nicest cunning of fence and thrust.
Every joint of their harness was searched by javelin and
spear, and the clang of maquahuitls against the faces of their
shields was as the noise of a thousand armeros at work. The
line swayed and bent before the surge, now yielding, now
recovering, at times ready to break, and then — death awaited
them all on the terraces below. For life they plied their
swords, — no, not for life alone; behind them to and fro
strode Olmedo.

“Strike, and spare not!” he cried. “Lo, the gates of hell
yonder, but they shall not prevail. Strike for Holy Church,
whose swords ye are! For Holy Cross, and room to worship
above the Baals of heathendom! For glory here, and eternal
life hereafter!”

So he cried as he strode; and the crucifix on his lance
and the saintly words on his lips were better than trumpets,
better than a hundred Cids in reserve.

The great drum, which had been for a while silent, at this
juncture burst out again; and still more to inflame the infidels,
forth from the sanctuaries the pabas poured, and dispersed
themselves, leaping, dancing, singing, through the
ranks. Doubtless they answered the Christian priest,
promise for promise, and with even greater effect; the calm
and self-possessed among their people became zealots, and
the zealots became frantic madmen.

At last the bowmen and arquebusiers appeared upon the
scene. When Cortes saw them, — their line formed, matches
lighted, bows drawn, — he drew out of the combat to give
them directions.

“Viva compañeros!” he said, with a vivacity peculiar to

[figure description] Page 519.[end figure description]

himself, “I bid ye welcome. The temple and its keepers
are ours. We with swords will now go forward. Keep ye
the stairway, and take care of our flanks. Ply your bolts,—
ply them fast, — and spare not a cur in the kennel!”

They made no answer, spake not a word. Stolidly, grimly
they gazed at him under their morions; they knew their
duty, and he knew them. Once more he turned to the
fight.

“To the sanctuaries!” he shouted, to the cavaliers. “We
have come for the false gods: let us at them. Charge,
gentlemen, Christ with us! Forward all!”

Back came their response, “Forward! Christo y Santiago!”

They advanced their shields suddenly; the play of their
swords redoubled; the weapons in front of them splintered
like reeds; war-cries half uttered turned to screams; under
foot blood ran like water, and feathered panoply and
fallen men, dying and dead, blotted out the pavement.
Surprised, bewildered, baffled, the bravest of the infidels
perished; the rest gave way or were pushed helplessly
back; and the dismay thus excited rose to panic when the
bowmen and arquebusiers joined in the combat. A horrible
confusion ensued. Hundreds threw away their arms, and
ran wildly around the azoteas; some flung themselves from
the height; some climbed the sanctuaries; some took to
piteous imploration of the doomed idols; others, in blind
fury, rushed empty-handed upon the dripping swords.

Steadily, as a good craft divides the current and its eddies,
Cortes made way to the sanctuaries, impatient to possess the
idols, that, at one blow, he might crush the faith they represented;
after which he made no doubt of the submission of
the nations in arms. A rare faculty that which, in the heat
of battle, can weave webs of policy, and in the mind's eye
trace out lines of wise conduct.

[figure description] Page 520.[end figure description]

When, at last, the end was nigh, such of the pabas as
survived withdrew themselves from the delirious mob, and
assembled around the sacrificial stones. Some of them were
wounded; on many the black gowns hung in shreds; all
of them had one purpose more, usually the last to linger
in an enthusiast's heart. There, where they had witnessed
so many sacrifices, and, in eager observance of auguries,
overlooked or savagely enjoyed the agony of the victims,
they came themselves to die, — there the sword found them;
and from their brave, patient death we may learn that Satan
hath had his martyrs as well as Christ.

About the same time another body collected in the space
before the presence chamber of Huitzil'. They were the
surviving caciques, with Io' in their midst. Having borne
him out of the fray, they now took up a last position to defend
him and the gods.

Upon them also the battle had laid a heavy hand; most
of them were hurt and bleeding; of their beautiful regalia
only fragments remained; some were without arms of any
kind, some bore headless javelins or spears; a few had
maquahuitls. Not a word was spoken: they, too, had come
to die, and the pride of their race forbade repining.

They saw the last of the pabas fall; then the rapacious
swords, to complete the work, came to them. In the front
strode Cortes. His armor shone brightly, and his shield,
though spotted with blood, was as a mirror from which the
sun's rays shot, like darts, into the eyes of the infidels attracted
by its brightness.

Suddenly, three warriors, unarmed, rushed upon him; his
sword passed through one of them; the others caught him
in their arms. So quick, so bold and desperate was the
action that, before he could resist or his captains help him,
he was lifted from his feet and borne away.

“Help, gentlemen! Rescue!” he cried.

[figure description] Page 521.[end figure description]

Forward sprang Sandoval, forward Alvarado, forward
the whole line. The caciques interposed themselves. Played
the swords then never so fast and deadly, — still the wall of
men endured.

Cortes with all his armor was a cumbrous burthen; yet
the warriors bore him swiftly toward the verge of the azoteas.
No doubt of their purpose: fair and stately were the halls
awaiting them in the Sun, if they but took the leap with
him! He struggled for life, and called on the saints, and
vowed vows; at the last moment, one of them stumbled
and fell; thereupon he broke away, regained his feet, and
slew them both.

In the door of the sanctuary of Huitzil', meantime, Io'
stood, biding the sure result of the unequal struggle. Again
and again he had striven to get to the enemy; but the devoted
caciques closed their circle against him as compactly
as against them. Nearer shone the resistless blades, — nearer
the inevitable death. The rumble and roar of the drum
poured from the chamber in mighty throbs; at times he
caught glimpses of the azoteas strewn with bloody wreck; a
sense of the greatness of the calamity seized him, followed
by the sullen calm which, in brave men dying, is more an
accusation of fate than courage, resignation, or despair; upon
his faculties came a mist; he shouted the old war-cry of
the 'tzin, and scarcely heard himself; the loves and hopes
that had made his young life beautiful seemed to rise up and
fly away, not in the air-line of birds, but with the slow,
eccentric flight of star-winged butterflies; then the light
faded and the sky darkened; he reeled and staggered, but
while falling, felt himself drawn into the presence chamber,
and looking up saw the face of the teotuctli, and heard the
words, “I loved your father, and he loved the god, who
may yet save us. Come, come!” The loving hands took
off his warlike trappings, and covering him with the frock

[figure description] Page 522.[end figure description]

of a paba set him on the step of the altar at the feet of
the god; then the darkness became perfect, and he knew
no more.

Directly there was a great shout within the chamber,
blent with the clang of armor and iron-shod feet; the teotuctli
turned, and confronted Olmedo, with Cortes and the
cavaliers.

The Christian priest dropped his lance to the floor, threw
back his cowl, raised his visor, and pointing to the crucifix
gazed proudly into the face of the infidel pontiff, who answered
with a look high and scornful, as became the first
and last servant of a god so lately the ruler of the universe.
And while they faced each other, the beating of the drum
ceased, and the clamor stilled, until nothing was heard but
the breathing of the conquerors, tired with slaughter.

Then Cortes said, —

“Glory to Christ, whose victory this is! Thou, father, art
his priest, let thy will be done. Speak!”

Olmedo turned to that quarter of the chamber where, by
permission of Montezuma, a Christian shrine and cross had
been erected: shrine and cross were gone! Answered he
then, —

“The despoiler hath done his work. Vengeance is mine,
saith the Lord. Take this man,” pointing to the teotuctli,
“and bind him, and lead him hence.”

Alvarado stepped forward, and took off the massive silver
chain which he habitually wore twice encircling his neck,
and falling down low over his breast-plate; with it he
bound the wrists of the prisoner, who once, and once only,
cast an appealing glance up to the stony face of the idol.
As they started to lead him off, his eyes fell upon Io';
by a sign and look of pity, he directed their attention
to the boy.

“He is not dead,” said Sandoval, after examination.

[figure description] Page 523.[end figure description]

“Take him hence, also,” Olmedo ordered. “At leisure
to-morrow we can learn what importance he hath.”

Hardly were the captives out when the chamber became
a scene of wild iconoclasm. The smoking censers
were overthrown; the sculpturings on the walls were defaced;
the altar was rifled of the rich accumulation of gifts;
fagots snatched from the undying fires in front of the sanctuaries
were applied to the carved and gilded wood-work;
and amid the smoke, and with shouting and laughter and
the noisy abandon of school-boys at play, the zealots despoiled
the gigantic image of its ornaments and treasure, —
of the bow and golden arrows in its hands; the feathers of
humming birds on its left foot; the necklace of gold and
silver hearts; the serpent enfolding its waist in coils glistening
with pearls and precious stones. A hundred hands then
pushed the monster from its sitting-place, and rolled it out
of the door, and finally off the azoteas. Tezca' shared the
same fate. The greedy flames mounted to the towers, and
soon not a trace of the ages of horrible worship remained,
except the smoking walls of the ruined sanctuaries.

Down from the heights marched the victors; into the
palace they marched; and not a hand was raised against
them on the way; the streets were almost deserted.

“Bien!” said Cortes, as he dismounted once more in
front of his quarters. “Muy bien! We have their king
and chief-priests; we have burned their churches, disgraced
their gods, and slain their nobles by the thousand. The war
is over, gentlemen; let us to our couches. Welcome rest!
welcome peace!”

And the weary army, accepting his words as verity, went
to rest, though the sun flamed in the brassy sky; but rest
there was not; ere dreams could follow slumber, the trumpets
sounded, and the battle was on again, fiercer than ever.

The sun set, and the night came; then the companies

p733-543 [figure description] Page 524.[end figure description]

thought to rest; but Cortes, made tireless by rage, went out
after them, and burned a vast district of houses.

And the flames so filled the sky with brilliance that the
sun seemed to have stood still just below the horizon.

During the lurid twilight, Olmedo laid away, in shallow
graves dug for them in the palace-garden, more than fifty
Christians, of whom six and forty perished on the temple
and its terraces.