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32 - Montezuma's Daughter by H Rider Haggard · Montezumas Daughter

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Speaker 1: One otomy pleads with her people. When I awoke, it
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Speaker 1: was to find myself in a cave where the light
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Speaker 1: shone very dimly. Artemi leant over me, and not far
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Speaker 1: away a man was cooking a pot over a fire
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Speaker 1: made of dry aloe leaves. Where am I and what
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Speaker 1: has happened? I asked, Oh, you are safe, beloved, She answered,
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Speaker 1: at least for a while. When you have eaten, I
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Speaker 1: will tell you more. She brought me broth and food,
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Speaker 1: and I ate eagerly, and when I was satisfied, she spoke,
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Speaker 1: you remember how the Telascan followed us, and how I
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Speaker 1: was rid of him. I remember, Artemi, though, how you
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Speaker 1: found the strength to kill him. I do not understand love,
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Speaker 1: and despair gave it to me, and I pray that
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Speaker 1: I may never have such another need. Do not speak
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Speaker 1: of it, husband, for this is more horrible to me
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Speaker 1: than all that has been before. One thing comforts me. However,
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Speaker 1: I did not kill him. The sword twisted in my hand,
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Speaker 1: and I believed that he was but stunned. Then we
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Speaker 1: fled a little way, and looking back, I saw that
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Speaker 1: two other Tlascualans, companions of the senseless man, were following us,
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Speaker 1: and him presently they came up to where he lay
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Speaker 1: and stared at him. Then they stared at our tracks,
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Speaker 1: running hard, and very soon they must have caught us.
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Speaker 1: For now you could scarcely stir. Your mind was gone,
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Speaker 1: and I had no more strength to carry you. Still
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Speaker 1: we stumbled on till presently, when the pursuers within fifty
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Speaker 1: paters of us, I saw armed men, eight of them,
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Speaker 1: rushing at us from the bushes. They were of my
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Speaker 1: own people, the Ottomies, soldiers that have served under you,
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Speaker 1: who watched the Spanish camp, and seeing a Spaniard alone,
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Speaker 1: they came to slay him. They very nearly did so, indeed,
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Speaker 1: for at first I was so breath as that I
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Speaker 1: could scarcely speak. But at last, in a few words
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Speaker 1: I made shift to declare my name and rank and
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Speaker 1: your sad plight. By now the two Telasqulans were upon us,
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Speaker 1: and I called to the men of the Ottomy to
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Speaker 1: protect us. And falling upon the Telasqulans, before they knew
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Speaker 1: that enemies were there, they killed one of them and
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Speaker 1: took the other prisoner. Then they made a litter, and,
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Speaker 1: placing you on it, bore you without rest twenty leagues
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Speaker 1: into the mountains till they reach this secret hiding place.
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Speaker 1: And here you have lain for three days and nights. Oh,
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Speaker 1: the Jews have searched for you far and wide, but
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Speaker 1: they have searched in vain. Only yesterday two of them,
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Speaker 1: with ten taalasculans, passed within a hundred paces of this cave,
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Speaker 1: and I had much ado to prevent our people from
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Speaker 1: attacking them. Now they are gone. Whence they came? And
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Speaker 1: I think that we are safe for a time. Soon
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Speaker 1: you will be better and we can go. Hence, where
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Speaker 1: can we go to Artemi? We are birds without a nest.
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Speaker 1: We must seek shelter in the city of Pines or
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Speaker 1: fly across the water. There is no other choice. Husband,
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Speaker 1: We cannot try the sea Artemi, for all the ship
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Speaker 1: that come here are Spanish, and I do not know
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Speaker 1: how they will greet us in the city of Pines.
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Speaker 1: Now that our cause is lost, and with it so
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Speaker 1: many thousands of their warriors, we must take the risk. Husband,
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Speaker 1: There are still true hearts in Aniwak who will still
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Speaker 1: stand by us in our sorrow and their own. At
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Speaker 1: the least we have escaped from greater dangers. Now let
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Speaker 1: me dress your wounds and rest awhile. So for three
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Speaker 1: more days I lay in the cave of the mountains,
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Speaker 1: and Ottomi tended me. And at the end of that
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Speaker 1: time my state was such as I could travel in
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Speaker 1: a litter, though for some weeks I was unable to
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Speaker 1: set foot to the ground. On the fourth day, we
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Speaker 1: started by night, and I was carried on men's shoulders
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Speaker 1: till at length we passed up the gorge leads to
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Speaker 1: the city of Pines. Here we will stop by sentries
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Speaker 1: to whom Otomi told our tale, bidding some of them
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Speaker 1: go forward and repeat it to the captains of the city.
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Speaker 1: We followed the messengers slowly, for my bearers were weary,
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Speaker 1: and came to the gates of the beautiful town just
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Speaker 1: as the red rays of sunset struck upon the snowy
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Speaker 1: pinnacle of Jhaka that towers behind it, turning her cap
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Speaker 1: of smoke to a sullen red like that of malt
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Speaker 1: and iron. The news of our coming had spread about,
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Speaker 1: and here and there knots of people were gathered to
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Speaker 1: watch us pass. For the most part they stood silent,
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Speaker 1: but now and again some woman whose husband or son
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Speaker 1: had perished in the siege would hiss, accurse at us alas,
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Speaker 1: how different was our state this day to what it
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Speaker 1: had been when not a year before we entered the
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Speaker 1: city of Pines for the first time. Then we were
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Speaker 1: escorted by an army ten thousand strong. Then musicians had
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Speaker 1: sung before us, and our path was strewn with flowers.
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Speaker 1: And now now we came two fugitives from the vengeance
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Speaker 1: of the jewels. I borne in a litter by four
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Speaker 1: tired soldiers, while Otomi, the princess of this people, still
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Speaker 1: clad in a wanton's robe, at which the women mocked,
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Speaker 1: for she had been able to come by no other,
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Speaker 1: tramped at my side, since there were none to carry her,
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Speaker 1: and the inhabitants of the place cursed us as the
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Speaker 1: authors of their woes, nor did we know if they
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Speaker 1: would stop at words. At length we crossed the square
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Speaker 1: beneath the shadow of the Teochli and reached the ancient
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Speaker 1: and sculptured palace, as the light failed and the smoke
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Speaker 1: on Shaka the Holy hill began to glow with fire
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Speaker 1: in his heart. Here a small preparation had been made
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Speaker 1: to receive us, and that night we supped by the
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Speaker 1: light of a torch upon tortilla's or meal cakes and water,
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Speaker 1: like the humblest in the land. Then we crept to
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Speaker 1: our rest, And as I lay awake because of the
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Speaker 1: pain of my hurts, I heard Ottomi, who thought that
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Speaker 1: I slept, break into low, sobbing at my side. Her
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Speaker 1: proud spirit was humbled at last, and she, whom I
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Speaker 1: had never known to weep, except once when our firstborn
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Speaker 1: died in the siege, wept bitterly. Why do you sorrow, thus, Ottomi,
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Speaker 1: I asked at length. I did not know that you
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Speaker 1: were away, husband, She sobbed in answer, or I would
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Speaker 1: have checked my grief. Husband, I sorrow over all that
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Speaker 1: has befallen us and my people also, though these are
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Speaker 1: but little things, because you are bought so low and
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Speaker 1: treated as a man of no estate, and of the
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Speaker 1: cold comfort that we find here. Oh you have cause, wife,
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Speaker 1: I answered, say, what will these artemies do with us?
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Speaker 1: Kill us or give us up to the dules? I
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Speaker 1: do not know. Tomorrow we shall learn, but for my
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Speaker 1: part I will not be surrendered living nor I wife.
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Speaker 1: Death is better than the tender mercies of courts. And
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Speaker 1: his minister de Garcia. Is there any hope, Yes, there
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Speaker 1: is hope, beloved. The Ottomy are cast down, and they
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Speaker 1: remember that we led the flower of their land to death.
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Speaker 1: But they are brave and generous at heart, and if
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Speaker 1: I can touch them, there all may be well. Weariness,
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Speaker 1: pain and memory make us weak, who should be full
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Speaker 1: of courage having escaped so many ills. Oh sleep, my husband,
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Speaker 1: and leave me to think. All shall yet go well,
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Speaker 1: For even misfortune has an end. So I slept and
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Speaker 1: woke up in the morning, somewhat refreshed and with a
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Speaker 1: happier mind. For who is there that is not bolder
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Speaker 1: when the light shines on him? And he is renewed
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Speaker 1: by rest. When I opened my eyes, the sun was
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Speaker 1: already high. But Ottomi had risen with the dawn, and
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Speaker 1: she had not been idle during those three hours. For
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Speaker 1: one thing, she had contrived to obtain food and fresh raiment,
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Speaker 1: more befitting to our rank than the rags in which
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Speaker 1: we were clothed. Also, she had brought together certain men
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Speaker 1: of condition who were friendly and loyal to her in misfortune,
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Speaker 1: and these she sent about the city, letting it be
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Speaker 1: known that she would address the people at midday from
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Speaker 1: the steps of the palace. For as Artemi knew well,
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Speaker 1: the heart string of a crowd are touched more easily
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Speaker 1: than those of cold and ancient counselors. Will they come
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Speaker 1: to listen? I asked, Oh, have no fear, she answered.
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Speaker 1: The desire to look upon us, who have survived the siege,
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Speaker 1: and to know the truth of what has happened, will
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Speaker 1: bring them. Moreover. Some will be their seeking vengeance on us. Oh,
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Speaker 1: Artemi was right, for as the morning drew on towards midday,
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Speaker 1: I saw the dwellers of the city of Pine gathering
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Speaker 1: in their thousands, till the space between the steps of
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Speaker 1: the palace and the face of the pyramid was black
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Speaker 1: with them. Now, Artomy combed her curling hair and placed
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Speaker 1: flowers in it, and set a gleaming feather cloak about
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Speaker 1: her shoulders, so that it hung down over her white robes,
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Speaker 1: and on her breast that splendid necklace of emeralds, which
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Speaker 1: Guatemalc had given to me in the treasure chamber, and
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Speaker 1: which she had preserved safely through all our evil fortune,
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Speaker 1: and a golden girdle about her waist. In her hand.
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Speaker 1: Also she took a little scepter of ebony tipped with gold,
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Speaker 1: that was in the palace, with other ornaments and emblems
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Speaker 1: of rank, and thus attired. Though she was worn with
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Speaker 1: travel and suffering, and grief had dimmed her beauty, for
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Speaker 1: a while she seemed the queenliest woman that my eyes of. Next,
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Speaker 1: she caused me to be laid upon a rude litter,
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Speaker 1: and when the hour of noon was come, she commanded
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Speaker 1: those soldiers who had borne me across the mountains to
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Speaker 1: carry me by her side. Thus we issued from the
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Speaker 1: wide doorway of the palace and took our stand upon
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Speaker 1: the platform at the head of the steps. As we came,
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Speaker 1: a great cry rose from the thousands of people, a
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Speaker 1: fierce cry like that of wild beasts howling for their prey.
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Speaker 1: Higher and higher. It rose a sound to strike terror
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Speaker 1: into the bravest heart. And by degrees I caught its purport.
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Speaker 1: Kill them, said the cry, Give the liars to the tules.
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Speaker 1: Artomi stepped forward to the edge of the platform, and
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Speaker 1: lifting the ebony scepter, she stood silent, the sunlight beating
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Speaker 1: on her lovely face and form. But the multitude screamed
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Speaker 1: a thousand taunts and threaten at us, And still the
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Speaker 1: tumult grew. Once they rushed towards her, as though to
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Speaker 1: tear her to pieces, But fell back at the last
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Speaker 1: stair as a wave falls from a rock, and once
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Speaker 1: a spear was thrown that passed between her neck and
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Speaker 1: her shoulder. Now the soldiers who carried me, making certain
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Speaker 1: that our death was at hand, and having no wish
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Speaker 1: to share it, set my litter down upon the stones,
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Speaker 1: and slipped back into the palace. But all this while
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Speaker 1: Ottomy never so much as moved, no, not even when
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Speaker 1: the spear hissed past her. She stood before them stately
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Speaker 1: and scorned, a very queen among women, and little by
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Speaker 1: little the majesty of her presence and the greatness of
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Speaker 1: her courage hushed them to silence. When there was quiet
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Speaker 1: at length, she spoke in a clear voice that carried
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Speaker 1: far am I among my own people of the Ottomy,
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Speaker 1: she asked, bitterly, Oh, have we lost our path and
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Speaker 1: wandered perchance among some savage Taalascan tribe. Listen, people of
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Speaker 1: the Ottomy, I have but one voice, and none can
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Speaker 1: reason with a multitude. Choose your tongue to speak for you,
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Speaker 1: and let him set out the desire of your hearts.
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Speaker 1: Now the tumult began again, for some shouted one name
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Speaker 1: and some another. But in the end, a priest and
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Speaker 1: noble named Maschla stepped forward, a man of great power
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Speaker 1: among the Ottomi, who above all had favored an alliance
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Speaker 1: with the Spaniards, and opposed the sending of an army
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Speaker 1: to aid Guatamac in the defense of Tunupticlen. Nor did
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Speaker 1: he come alone, for with him were four chiefs, whom
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Speaker 1: by their dress I knew to be Talascan's, and envoys
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Speaker 1: from Cortes. Then my heart sank, for it was not
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Speaker 1: difficult to guess the object of their coming. Speak on, Mashtla,
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Speaker 1: said Ottomar, for we must hear what there is for
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Speaker 1: us to answer. And you people of Ottomi, I pray
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Speaker 1: you keep silence, that you may judge between us when
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Speaker 1: there is an end of talking. Now a grit each
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Speaker 1: silence fell upon the multitude, who pressed together like sheep
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Speaker 1: in a pen, and strained their ears to catch the
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Speaker 1: words of Mashla. My speech with you, princess, and the
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Speaker 1: jul your husband shall be short and sharp, he began
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Speaker 1: roughly a while. Hence you came hither to seek an
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Speaker 1: army to aid Quitlohar, Emperor of the Aztecs. In this
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Speaker 1: struggle with the Jewels, the sons of Quetzel. That army
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Speaker 1: was given you against the wishes of many of us,
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Speaker 1: For you won over the council by the honey of
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Speaker 1: your words, and we who urged caution or even an
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Speaker 1: alliance with the white men the children of God, were overruled.
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Speaker 1: You went hence, and twenty thousand men, the flower of
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Speaker 1: our people, followed you to turn up to thin. Where
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Speaker 1: are they now? I will tell you some two hundred
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Speaker 1: of them have crept back home. The rest fly to
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Speaker 1: and fro through the air in the giddards of the Zaphalots,
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Speaker 1: or crouch in the earth in the bellies of jackals.
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Speaker 1: Death has them all, and you led them to their deaths?
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Speaker 1: Is it then much that we should seek the lives
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Speaker 1: of you too in payment for those twenty thousand of
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Speaker 1: our sons, husbands and our fathers. But we do not
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Speaker 1: even ask this. Here beside me stand ambassadors from Mallune,
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Speaker 1: the captains of the Jewels, who reached our city but
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Speaker 1: an hour ago. This is the demand that they bring
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Speaker 1: from Malunch and, in his own words, deliver back to
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Speaker 1: me of to me the daughter of Montezuma and the renegade,
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Speaker 1: her paramour, who is known as Tule, who has fled
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Speaker 1: from the justice due to his crimes, And it shall
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Speaker 1: be well with you, people of the Ottomy. Hide them
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Speaker 1: or refuse to deliver them, and the fate of the
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Speaker 1: city of Pines shall be the fate of tenopticlon Queen
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Speaker 1: of the valley. Choose them between my love and my wrath,
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Speaker 1: people of the Ottomy. If you obey, the past shall
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Speaker 1: be forgiven, and my yoke will be light upon you.
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Speaker 1: If you refuse, your city shall be stamped flat, and
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Speaker 1: your very name wiped from the records of the world, say,
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Speaker 1: messengers of Malach. Are not these the words of Malach?
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Speaker 1: They are the very words Maschler, said the spokesman of
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Speaker 1: the embassy. Now again there was a tumult among the people,
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Speaker 1: and voices cried give them up, give them to Malanchie
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Speaker 1: as a peace offering. Artemi stood forward to speak, and
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Speaker 1: it died away for all desire to hear her words.
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Speaker 1: Then she spoke, It seems, people of the Otomy, that
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Speaker 1: I am on trial before my own vassals, and my
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Speaker 1: husband with me. Well, I will plead our cause as
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Speaker 1: well as a woman may, and having the power, you
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Speaker 1: shall judge between us. A Maschler and his allies, Malench
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Speaker 1: and the Talascuans. What is our offense? It is that
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Speaker 1: we came hither by the command of Quitloha, to seek
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Speaker 1: your aid in his war with the Tules. What did
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Speaker 1: I tell you then? I told you that if the
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Speaker 1: people of an Huac would not stand together against the
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Speaker 1: white men, they must be broken one by one like
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Speaker 1: sticks of an unbound faggot, and cast into the flames.
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Speaker 1: Did I speak lies? Nay? I spoke truth. For through
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Speaker 1: the treason of her tribes, and chiefly through the treason
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Speaker 1: of the Tlascalans, Anahuak is fallen, and Tenocticlon is a
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Speaker 1: ruin sown with dead, like a field with corn. It
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Speaker 1: is true, cried a voice. Yes, people of the Ottomy,
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Speaker 1: it is true. But I say that had all the
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Speaker 1: warriors of the nations of Anahuac played the part that
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Speaker 1: your son's played, the tale had run. Otherwise they are dead,
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Speaker 1: and because of their death you would deliver us to
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Speaker 1: our foes and yours. But I, for one, do not
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Speaker 1: mourn them, though among their number are many of my kin.
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Speaker 1: Nay be not wrath, But listen, it is better that
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Speaker 1: they should lie dead in honor, having earned for themselves
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Speaker 1: a wreath of fame and an immortal dwelling in the
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Speaker 1: houses of the sun, than that they should live to
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Speaker 1: be slaves, which it seems is your desire, People of
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Speaker 1: the Otomy, there is no false word in what I
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Speaker 1: said to you. Now the sticks that Manage has used
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Speaker 1: to beat out these brains of Guatemaluk shall be broken
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Speaker 1: and burnt to cook the pot of the tules. Already
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Speaker 1: these false children are his slaves. Have you not heard
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Speaker 1: his command that the tribes his allies shall labor in
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Speaker 1: the quarries and the streets till a glorious city which
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Speaker 1: he has burned rises afresh from the face of the waters.
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Speaker 1: Will you not hasten to take your share in the work,
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Speaker 1: people of the Otomy, the work that knows no rest
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Speaker 1: and no reward except the lash of the overseer and
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Speaker 1: the curse of the duel. Surely you will hasten, people
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Speaker 1: of the mountains. Your hands are shaped to the spade
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Speaker 1: and the trowel, not to the bow and the spear.
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Speaker 1: And it will be sweeter to toil, to do the
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Speaker 1: will and swell the wealth of Malage in the sun
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Speaker 1: of the valley or the shadow of the mine, than
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Speaker 1: to bide here free upon the hills, where as yet
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Speaker 1: no foe has set his foot again. She paused, and
22:55
Speaker 1: a murmur of doubt and unrest went through the thousands
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Speaker 1: who listened. Matchless stepped forward and would have spoken, but
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Speaker 1: the people shouted him down, crying, artter Me, artter Me.
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Speaker 1: Let us hear the words of artter Me. I thank you,
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Speaker 1: my people, she said, for I have still much to
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Speaker 1: tell you. Our crime is then, that we drew an
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Speaker 1: army after us to fight against the duels. And how
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Speaker 1: did we draw this army? Did I command you to
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Speaker 1: muster your array? Nay? I set out my case, and
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Speaker 1: I said, now choose you chose, and of your own
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Speaker 1: free will you despatch these glorious companies that now are dead.
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Speaker 1: My crime is therefore that you chose wrongly, as you say,
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Speaker 1: but as I still hold most rightly, and because of
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Speaker 1: this crime, I and my husband are to be driven
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Speaker 1: as a peace offering to the Jewels. Listen, let me
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Speaker 1: tell you something of those wars in which we have fought.
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Speaker 1: Before you give us to the jewels, and our mouths
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Speaker 1: are silent forever. Where shall I begin? I know not stay.
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Speaker 1: I bore a child had he lived he would have
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Speaker 1: been your prince. To day, that child I saw starve
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Speaker 1: to death before my own eyes, inch by inch, and
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Speaker 1: day by day I saw him starve. But it is
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Speaker 1: nothing who am I that I should complain because I
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Speaker 1: have lost my son, when so many of your sons
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Speaker 1: are dead, and their blood is required at my hands.
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Speaker 1: Listen again, And she went on to tell in burning
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Speaker 1: words of the horrors of the siege, of the cruelties
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Speaker 1: of the Spaniards, and of the bravery of the men
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Speaker 1: of the Ottomy, whom I had commanded. For a full
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Speaker 1: hour she spoke thus while all that vast audience hung
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Speaker 1: upon her words. Also she told of the part that
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Speaker 1: I played in the struggle, and of the deed which
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Speaker 1: I had done. And now and again some soldier in
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Speaker 1: the crowd, who served under me and who had escaped
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Speaker 1: the famine and the massacre, cried out, it is true,
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Speaker 1: we saw it with our own eyes. And so she said,
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Speaker 1: at last it was finished. At last, Tenoptatun was a ruin,
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Speaker 1: and my cousin and my king, the glorious Guatamauc lay
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Speaker 1: a prisoner in the hands of Malunch, and with him
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Speaker 1: my husband Tule, my sister, I myself and many another.
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Speaker 1: Malache swore that he would treat Guatamauc and his following
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Speaker 1: with all honor. Do you know how he treated him?
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Speaker 1: Within a few days, Guateamauc, our king, was seated in
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Speaker 1: the chair of torment, while slaves burned him with hot
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Speaker 1: irons to cause him to declare the hiding place of
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Speaker 1: the treasure of montezumer. Ay, you may well cry shame
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Speaker 1: upon him. You shall cry yet more loudly before I
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Speaker 1: have done. For know that Guatamoc did not suffer alone.
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Speaker 1: One lies there who suffered with him and spoke no word.
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Speaker 1: And I, also, your princess, was doomed to torment. We
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Speaker 1: escaped when death was at our door, For I told
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Speaker 1: my husband that the people of the Ottomy had true
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Speaker 1: hearts and would shelter us in our sorrow, and for
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Speaker 1: his sake, I otomy disguise myself in the robe of
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Speaker 1: a wanton and fled with him. Hither could I have
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Speaker 1: known what I should live to see and hear? Could
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Speaker 1: I have dreamed that you would receive me? Thus I
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Speaker 1: had died a hundred deaths before I came to stand
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Speaker 1: and plead for pity. At your hands, O, my people,
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Speaker 1: I beseech of you. Make no terms with the false due,
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Speaker 1: but remain bold and free. Your necks are not fitted
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Speaker 1: to the yoke of the slave. Your sons and daughter
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Speaker 1: of too high a blood to serve the foreigner in
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Speaker 1: his needs and pleasures, defy manage. Some of our race
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Speaker 1: are dead, but many thousands remain here in your mountain nest.
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Speaker 1: You can beat back every tulee in anawak, as in
28:07
Speaker 1: by gone years the false Tilascualans beat back the Aztecs.
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Speaker 1: Then the Tlascalans were free. Now they are a part
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Speaker 1: of the race of serfs. Say will you share their
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Speaker 1: serfdam my people, my people, think not that I plead
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Speaker 1: for myself, or even for the husband who is more
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Speaker 1: dear to me than ought save honor. Do you indeed
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Speaker 1: dream that we will suffer you to hand us living
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Speaker 1: to these dogs of Talasqualans, who manage insults you by
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Speaker 1: sending as his messengers. Look, and she walked away. The
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Speaker 1: spear that had been hurled at her lay upon the
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Speaker 1: pavement and lifted it. Here is a means of death
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Speaker 1: that some friend has sent us, And if you will
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Speaker 1: not listen to my pleading, you shall see it used
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Speaker 1: before your eyes. Then if you will, you may send
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Speaker 1: our bodies to manage as a peace offering. But for
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Speaker 1: your own sakes, I plead with you, defy manlenge, and
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Speaker 1: if you must die at last, die as free men
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Speaker 1: and not as the slaves of the Tule. Behold now
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Speaker 1: his tender mercies, and see the lot that shall be yours.
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Speaker 1: If you take another council, the council of Mastla, And
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Speaker 1: coming to the litter in which I lay, swiftly utter
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Speaker 1: me you rent my robes from me, Leave me almost
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Speaker 1: naked to the waist, and unwound the bandages from my
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Speaker 1: wounded limb. Then lifted me up so that I rested
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Speaker 1: upon my sound foot. Look, she cried in a piercing voice,
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Speaker 1: and pointing to the scars and unhealed wounds upon my
30:06
Speaker 1: face and leg. Look on the work of the Tule
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Speaker 1: and the telasquon, see how the foe is dealt with
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Speaker 1: who surrenders to them. Yield if you will desert us.
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Speaker 1: If you will, but I say that, then your own
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Speaker 1: body shall be marked in a like fashion till not
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Speaker 1: an ounce of gold is left that can minister to
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Speaker 1: the greed of the duel or a man or a
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Speaker 1: maiden who can labor to satisfy his indolence. Then she ceased,
30:41
Speaker 1: and letting me sink gently to the ground, for I
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Speaker 1: could not stand alone. She stood over me, the spear
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Speaker 1: in her hand, as though waiting to plunge you to
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Speaker 1: my heart. Should the people still demand our surrender to
30:57
Speaker 1: the messengers of Cortes, for one instance, there was silence.
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Speaker 1: Then of a sudden the clamor and the tumult broke
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Speaker 1: out again, ten times more furiously at first, but it
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Speaker 1: was no longer aimed at us. Artemi had conquered her
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Speaker 1: noble words, her beauty, the tale of our sorrows, and
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Speaker 1: the sight of my torments had done their work, and
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Speaker 1: the heart of the people was filled with fury against
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Speaker 1: the jewels who had destroyed their army, and the Taalasqulans
31:37
Speaker 1: that had aided them. Never did the wit and eloquence
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Speaker 1: of a woman cause a swifter change. They screamed and
31:47
Speaker 1: tore their robes and shook their weapons in the air.
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Speaker 1: Matchless strove to speak, But they pulled him down, and
31:56
Speaker 1: presently he was flying for his life. Then they turned
32:00
Speaker 1: upon the Tlascalan envoys and beat them with sticks, crying,
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Speaker 1: this is our answer to marriage. Run your dogs and
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Speaker 1: take it till they were driven from the town. Now
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Speaker 1: at length the turmoil ceased, and some of the great
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Speaker 1: chiefs came forward, and, kissing the hand of Ottomy, said, Princess,
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Speaker 1: we your children will guard you to the death, for
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Speaker 1: you have put another heart into us. You are right.
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Speaker 1: It is better to die free than to live as slaves. See,
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Speaker 1: my husband, said Ottomy. I was not mistaken when I
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Speaker 1: told you that my people were loyal and true. But
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Speaker 1: now we must make ready for war, for they have
32:53
Speaker 1: gone too far to turn back, and when this tiding
32:56
Speaker 1: comes to the ears of manage, he will be like
33:00
Speaker 1: puma robbed of her young. Now let us rest. I
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Speaker 1: am very weary. Artter Me, I answered, there is live
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Speaker 1: no greater woman than you upon this earth. I cannot tell, husband,
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Speaker 1: she said, smiling. If I have won your praise and safety,
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Speaker 1: that is enough for me. End of chapter thirty one.
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Speaker 1: Recording by Patrick seventy nine