Hurrying to my post of outlook on the little pyramid, where Otomie joined me, I saw that the whole people were gathered for war.
So far as the eye could reach, in square, market place, and street, they were massed in thousands and tens of thousands.
Some were armed with slings, some with bows and arrows, others with javelins tipped with copper, and the club set with spikes of obsidian that is called maqua, and yet others, citizens of the poorer sort, with stakes hardened in the fire.
The bodies of some were covered with golden coats of mail and mantles of featherwork, and their skulls protected by painted wooden helms, crested with hair, and fashioned like the heads of pumas, snakes, or wolves—others wore escaupils, or coats of quilted cotton, but the most of them were naked except for a cloth about the loins.
On the flat azoteas, or roofs of houses also, and even on the top of the teocalli of sacrifice, were bands of men whose part it was to rain missiles into the Spanish quarters.
It was a strange sight to see in that red sunrise, and one never to be forgotten, as the light flashed from temples and palace walls, on to the glittering feather garments and gay banners, the points of countless spears and the armour of the Spaniards, who hurried to and fro behind their battlements making ready their defence.
So soon as the sun was up, a priest blew a shrill note upon a shell, which was answered by a trumpet call from the Spanish quarters.
Then with a shriek of rage the thousands of the Aztecs rushed to the attack, and the air grew dark with missiles.
Instantly a wavering line of fire and smoke, followed by a sound as of thunder, broke from the walls of the palace of Axa, and the charging warriors fell like autumn leaves beneath the cannon and arquebuss balls of the Christians.
For a moment they wavered and a great groan went up to heaven, but I saw Guatemoc spring forward, a banner in his hand, and forming up again they rushed after him.
Now they were beneath the wall of the palace, and the assault began.
The Aztecs fought furiously.
Time upon time they strove to climb the wall, piling up the bodies of the dead to serve them as ladders, and time upon time they were repulsed with cruel loss.
Failing in this, they set themselves to battering it down with heavy beams, but when the breach was made and they clustered in it like herded sheep, the cannon opened fire on them, tearing long lanes through their mass and leaving them dead by scores.
Then they took to the shooting of flaming arrows, and by this means fired the outworks, but the palace was of stone and would not burn.
Thus for twelve long hours the struggle raged unceasingly, till the sudden fall of darkness put an end to it, and the only sight to be seen was the flare of countless torches carried by those who sought out the dead, and the only sounds to be heard were the voice of women lamenting, and the groans of the dying.
On the morrow the fight broke out again at dawn, when Cortes sallied forth with the greater part of his soldiers, and some thousands of his Tlascalan allies.
At first I thought that he aimed his attack at Montezuma’s palace, and a breath of hope went through me, since then it might become possible for me to escape in the confusion.
But this was not so, his object being to set fire to the houses, from the flat roofs of which numberless missiles were hailed hourly upon his followers.
The charge was desperate and it succeeded, for the Indians could not withstand the shock of horsemen any more than their naked skins could turn the Spaniards’ steel.
Presently scores of houses were in flames, and thick columns of smoke rolled up like those that float from the mouth of Popo.
But many of those who rode and ran from the gates of Axa did not come back thither, for the Aztecs clung to the legs of the horses and dragged their riders away living.
That very day these captives were sacrificed on the altar of Huitzel, and in the sight of their comrades, and with them a horse was offered up, which had been taken alive, and was borne and dragged with infinite labour up the steep sides of the pyramid.
Indeed never had the sacrifices been so many as during these days of combat.
All day long the altars ran red, and all day long the cries of the victims rang in my ears, as the maddened priests went about their work. For thus they thought to please the gods who should give them victory over the Teules.
Even at night the sacrifices continued by the light of the sacred fires, that from below gave those who wrought them the appearance of devils flitting through the flames of hell, and inflicting its torments on the damned, much as they are depicted in the ‘Doom’ painting of the resurrection of the dead that is over the chancel arch in this church of Ditchingham.
And hour by hour through the darkness, a voice called out threats and warnings to the Spaniards, saying,
‘Huitzel is hungry for your blood, ye Teules, ye shall surely follow where ye have seen your fellows go: the cages are ready, the knives are sharp, and the irons are hot for the torture.
Prepare, ye Teules, for though ye slay many, ye cannot escape.’
Thus the struggle went on day after day, till thousands of the Aztecs were dead, and the Spaniards were well nigh worn out with hunger, war, and wounds, for they could not rest a single hour.
At length one morning, when the assault was at its hottest, Montezuma himself appeared upon the central tower of the palace, clad in splendid robes and wearing the diadem.
Before him stood heralds bearing golden wands, and about him were the nobles who attended him in his captivity, and a guard of Spaniards.
He stretched out his hand, and suddenly the fighting was stayed and a silence fell upon the place, even the wounded ceased from their groaning.
Then he addressed the multitude.
What he said I was too far off to hear, though I learned its purport afterwards.
He prayed his people to cease from war, for the Spaniards were his friends and guests and would presently leave the city of Tenoctitlan.
When these cowardly words had passed his lips, a fury took his subjects, who for long years had worshipped him as a god, and a shriek rent the air that seemed to say two words only:
‘Woman!
Traitor!’
Then I saw an arrow rush upwards and strike the emperor, and after the arrow a shower of stones, so that he fell down there upon the tower roof.
Now a voice cried,
‘We have slain our king. Montezuma is dead,’ and instantly with a dreadful wailing the multitude fled this way and that, so that presently no living man could be seen where there had been thousands.
I turned to comfort Otomie, who was watching at my side, and had seen her royal father fall, and led her weeping into the palace.
Here we met Guatemoc, the prince, and his mien was fierce and wild. He was fully armed and carried a bow in his hand.
‘Is Montezuma dead?’ I asked.
‘I neither know nor care,’ he answered with a savage laugh, then added:
‘Now curse me, Otomie my cousin, for it was my arrow that smote him down, this king who has become a woman and a traitor, false to his manhood and his country.’
Then Otomie ceased weeping and answered:
‘I cannot curse you, Guatemoc, for the gods have smitten my father with a madness as you smote him with your arrow, and it is best that he should die, both for his own sake and for that of his people.
Still, Guatemoc, I am sure of this, that your crime will not go unpunished, and that in payment for this sacrilege, you shall yourself come to a shameful death.’