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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Up to thirty four the siege of the City of Pines.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The battle was already lost. From a thousand feet above
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: us swelled the shouts of victory. The battle was lost,
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  Speaker 1: and yet I must fight on as swiftly as I could.
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  Speaker 1: I withdrew those who were left to me to a
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  Speaker 1: certain angle in the path, where a score of desperate men,
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  Speaker 1: for a while hold back the advance of an army.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Here I called for some to stand at my side,
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  Speaker 1: and many answer'd the call. Out of them, I chose
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  Speaker 1: fifty men or more, bidding the rest run hard for
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  Speaker 1: the City of Pines. There to warn those who were
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  Speaker 1: left in garrison that the hour of danger was upon them.
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  Speaker 1: And should I fall, to conjure art me my wife
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  Speaker 1: to make the best resistance in her power, till if
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  Speaker 1: it were possible, she could wring from the Spaniards a
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  Speaker 1: promise of safety for herself, her child, and her people. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: I would hold the pass so that time might be
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  Speaker 1: given to shut the gates and man the walls. With
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  Speaker 1: the main body of those who were left to me,
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  Speaker 1: I sent back my son, though he prayed hard to
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  Speaker 1: be allowed to stay with me, But seeing nothing before
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  Speaker 1: me except death, I refused him. Presently all were gone,
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  Speaker 1: and fearing a snare, the Spaniards came slowly and cautiously
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  Speaker 1: round the angle of the rock, and, seeing so few men,
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  Speaker 1: mustered to meet them. Halted for now, they were certain
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: that they had set a trap for them, since they
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  Speaker 1: did not think it possible that such a little band
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  Speaker 1: would venture to oppose their array. Here the ground lay
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  Speaker 1: so that only a few of them could come against
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  Speaker 1: us at one time, nor could they bring their heavy
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  Speaker 1: horses to bear on us, and even their arcubuses helped
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  Speaker 1: them but little. Also, the roughness of the road forced
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  Speaker 1: them to dismount from their horses, so that if they
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  Speaker 1: could attack at all, it must be on foot. This,
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  Speaker 1: in the end they chose to do. Many fell upon
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  Speaker 1: either side, though I myself received no wound. But in
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  Speaker 1: the end they drove us back. Inch by inch they
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  Speaker 1: drove us back, or rather those of us who were
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  Speaker 1: left at the points of their long lances, till at
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  Speaker 1: length they forced us into the mouth of the pass,
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  Speaker 1: that is some five furlungs distance from what was once
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  Speaker 1: the wall of the city of Pines. Two five further
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  Speaker 1: was of no avail. Here we must choose between death
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  Speaker 1: and flight, and, as may be guessed, for wives and
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  Speaker 1: children's sake, if not for our own, we chose to
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  Speaker 1: fly across the plain. We fled like deer, and after
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  Speaker 1: us came the Spaniards and their allies like hounds. Happily
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  Speaker 1: the ground was rough with stones, so that their horses
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  Speaker 1: could not gallop freely. And thus it happened that some
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  Speaker 1: of us, or perhaps twenty, gained the gates in safety
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  Speaker 1: of my army. Not more than five hundred in all
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  Speaker 1: lived to enter them again, and perchance there were as
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  Speaker 1: many left within the city. The heavy gates swung too,
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  Speaker 1: and scarcely were they barred with the massive beams of oak.
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  Speaker 1: When the foremost of the Spaniards rode up to them,
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  Speaker 1: my bow was still in my hand, and there was
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  Speaker 1: one arrow left in my quiver. I set it on
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  Speaker 1: the street, and, drawing the bow with my full strength,
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  Speaker 1: I loosed the shaft through the bars of the gate
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  Speaker 1: at a young and gallant looking cavalier who rode the
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  Speaker 1: first of all. It struck him truly between the joint
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  Speaker 1: of the helm and the neck piece, and stretching his
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  Speaker 1: arms out wide, he fell backwards over the crupper of
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  Speaker 1: his horse. To move no more. Then they withdrew, but
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  Speaker 1: presently one of their number came forward, bearing a flag
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  Speaker 1: of truce. He was a nightly looking man, clad in
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  Speaker 1: rich armor, and watching him, it seemed to me that
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  Speaker 1: there was something in his bearing, and in the careless
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  Speaker 1: grace with which he sat on his horse, that was
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  Speaker 1: familiar to me. Reining up in the front of the gates,
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  Speaker 1: he raised his visor and began to speak. I knew
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  Speaker 1: him at once before me was de Garcia, my ancient
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  Speaker 1: enemy of whom I had neither heard nor seen anything
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  Speaker 1: for hard upon twelve years time had touched him. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: which was scarcely to be wondered at. For now he
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  Speaker 1: was a man of sixty or more. His peak chestnut
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  Speaker 1: colored beard was streaked with gray. His cheeks were hollow,
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  Speaker 1: and at that distance his lips seemed like two thin
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  Speaker 1: red lines. But the eyes were as they had always been,
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  Speaker 1: bright and piercing, and the same cold smile played about
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  Speaker 1: his mouth. Without a doubt, it was Garcier, who, now,
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  Speaker 1: as at every crisis of my life, appeared to shape
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  Speaker 1: my fortunes to some evil end. And I felt, as
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  Speaker 1: I looked upon him, that the last and great hist
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  Speaker 1: struggle between us was at hand, and that before many
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: days were sped, the ancient and accumulated hate of one
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  Speaker 1: or both of us would be buried forever in the
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  Speaker 1: silence of death. How ill had fate dealt with me
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  Speaker 1: now as always? But a few minutes before, when I
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  Speaker 1: set that arrow on the string, I had wavered for
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  Speaker 1: a moment, doubting whether to loose it at the young
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  Speaker 1: cavalier who lay dead, or at the night who rode
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  Speaker 1: next to him. And see I had slain the one
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  Speaker 1: whom I had no quarrel, and left my enemy unharmed.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: How there cried Degacia in Spanish. I desired to speak
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  Speaker 1: with the leader of the rebel otomy on behalf of
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  Speaker 1: the Captain Bernald Diaz, who commands this army. Now I
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: mounted on the wall by means of a ladder which
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  Speaker 1: was at hand, and answered, speak on, I am the
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  Speaker 1: man you seek. You know Spanish? Well, friend, said de Garcia,
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  Speaker 1: starting and looking at me keenly beneath his bent brows,
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  Speaker 1: say now, where did you learn it? And what is
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  Speaker 1: your name and lineage? I learned it, Juan de Garcia,
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  Speaker 1: from a certain Dona Louisa, whom you knew in your
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  Speaker 1: days of youth, and my name is Thomas Wingfield. Now
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  Speaker 1: de Garcia reeled in his saddle and swore a great oath,
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  Speaker 1: Mother of God. He said, years ago I was told
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  Speaker 1: that you had taken up your abode among some savage tribe.
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  Speaker 1: But since then I have been far to Spain and back. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: and I that you were dead. Thomas Wingfield, My luck
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  Speaker 1: is good in truth, for it had been one of
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  Speaker 1: the great sorrows of my life that you have so
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  Speaker 1: often escaped me. Renegade, be sure that this time there
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  Speaker 1: shall be no escape. I know well that there will
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  Speaker 1: be no escape for one or other of us. Juan
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  Speaker 1: de Garcia, I answered, Now we play the last round
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  Speaker 1: of our game, but do not boast, for God alone
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  Speaker 1: knows to whom the victory shall be given. Oh, you
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  Speaker 1: have prospered long, but a day may be at hand
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  Speaker 1: when your prosperity shall cease. With your breath to your
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  Speaker 1: errand Juan de Garcia. For a moment he sat silent,
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  Speaker 1: pulling at his beard and watching him. I thought I
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  Speaker 1: could see the shadow of a half forgotten fear creep
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  Speaker 1: into his eyes. If so, it was soon gone. For
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  Speaker 1: lifting his head, he spoke boldly and clearly. This is
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  Speaker 1: my message to you, Thomas Wingfield, and to such of
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  Speaker 1: the Ottomy dogs with whom you heard as we left
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  Speaker 1: alive to day the Captain burn of Diaz off as
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  Speaker 1: you terms on behalf of his excellency, the Viceroy. What
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  Speaker 1: are his terms? I asked, merciful enough to such persistent
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  Speaker 1: rebels and heathens. He answered, sneering, surrender your city without condition,
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  Speaker 1: and the Viceroy, in his clemency, will accept the surrender. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: lest you should say afterwards that faith has been broken
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  Speaker 1: with you, be it known to you that you shall
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  Speaker 1: not go unpunished for your many crimes. This is the
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  Speaker 1: punishment that shall be inflicted on you. All those who
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  Speaker 1: had part or parcel in the devilish murder of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Saint Father Pedro shall be burned at the stake,
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  Speaker 1: and the eyes of all those who beheld it shall
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  Speaker 1: be put out. Such of the leaders of the Ottomy,
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  Speaker 1: as the judges may select, shall be hanged publicly, among
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  Speaker 1: them yourself, Thomas Wingfield, and more particularly the woman otomy
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Montezuma, the late King. For the rest the
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  Speaker 1: dwellers of the city of Pines must surrender their wealth
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  Speaker 1: into the treasury of the Viceroy, and they themselves, men,
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  Speaker 1: women and children, shall be led from the city and
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  Speaker 1: be distributed according to the Viceroy's pleasure upon the estates
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  Speaker 1: of such as the Spanish settlers as he may select
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  Speaker 1: there to learn the useful arts of husbandry and mining.
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  Speaker 1: These are the conditions of surrender, and I am commanded
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  Speaker 1: to say that an hour is given you in which
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  Speaker 1: to decide whether you accept or reject them. And if
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  Speaker 1: we reject them, then the Captain Bernald Diaz has orders
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  Speaker 1: to sack and destroy the city, and, having given it
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  Speaker 1: over for twelve hours to the mercy of the Tlascans
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  Speaker 1: and other faithful Indian allies, to collect those who may
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  Speaker 1: be living within it and bring them to the city
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  Speaker 1: of Mexico there to be sold as slaves. Good, I said,
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  Speaker 1: you shall have your answer in an hour. Now leaving
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  Speaker 1: the gate guard, I hurried to the palace, sending messengers
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  Speaker 1: as I went to summon such of the council of
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  Speaker 1: the city as remained alive. At the door of the palace,
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  Speaker 1: I met Ottomi, who greeted me fondly, for after hearing
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  Speaker 1: of our disaster, she had hardly looked to see me again,
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  Speaker 1: come with me to the hall of Assembly, I said,
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  Speaker 1: there I will speak with you. We went to the
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  Speaker 1: hall where the members of the council were already gathering.
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  Speaker 1: So soon as the most of them were assembled, there
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  Speaker 1: were but eight and all I repeated to them the
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  Speaker 1: words of de Gacia without comment. Then Artemi spoke, as
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  Speaker 1: being the first in rank, she had a right to do.
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  Speaker 1: Twice before I had heard her address the people of
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  Speaker 1: the Artemy upon these questions of defense against the Spaniards.
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  Speaker 1: The first time, it may be remembered, was when we
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  Speaker 1: came as envoys from Quitlohar Montezumer, her father's successor, to
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  Speaker 1: pray the aid of the children of the Mountain against
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  Speaker 1: Quarters and the Tuls. The second time was when some
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  Speaker 1: fourteen years ago we had returned to the city of
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  Speaker 1: Pines as fugitives after the fall of Tenopticulon, and the populace,
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  Speaker 1: moved to fury by the destruction of nearly twenty thousand
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  Speaker 1: of their soldiers, would have delivered us as a peace
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  Speaker 1: offering into the hands of the Spaniards. On each of
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  Speaker 1: these occasions, Otomy had triumphed by her eloquence, by the
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  Speaker 1: greatness of her name, and the majesty of her presence.
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  Speaker 1: Now things were far otherwise, and even had she not
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  Speaker 1: scorn to use them, such arts would have availed as
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  Speaker 1: nothing in this extremity. Now her great name was but
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  Speaker 1: a shadow, one of many waning shadows cast by an
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  Speaker 1: empire whose glory had gone forever. Now she used no
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  Speaker 1: passionate appeal to the pride and traditions of a doomed race.
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  Speaker 1: Now she was no longer young, and the first splendor
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  Speaker 1: of her womanhood had departed her. And yet, as with
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  Speaker 1: her son and mine at her side, she rose to
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  Speaker 1: address those seven counselors, who, haggard with fear and hopeless
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  Speaker 1: in the grasp of fate, crouched in silence before her,
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  Speaker 1: their faces buried in their hands. I thought that Artemy
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  Speaker 1: had never seemed more beautiful, and that her words, simple
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  Speaker 1: as they were, had never been more eloquent. Friends, She said,
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  Speaker 1: you know the disaster that has overtaken us. My husband
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  Speaker 1: has given you the message of the Tuols. Our case
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  Speaker 1: is desperate. We have but a thousand men at most
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  Speaker 1: to defend the city, the homes of our forefathers, and
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  Speaker 1: we alone, of the peoples of Anahuac, still dare to
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  Speaker 1: stand in arms against the white man. Years ago I
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  Speaker 1: said to you choose between death with honor and life
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  Speaker 1: with shame. Today again I say to you, choose for
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  Speaker 1: me and mine. There is no choice left, since whatever
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  Speaker 1: you decide, death must be our portion. But with you
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  Speaker 1: it is otherwise. Will you die fighting or will you
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  Speaker 1: and your children serve your remaining years as slaves. For
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: a while, the seven consulted together. Then their spokesman answered, Otomi,
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  Speaker 1: and you two, we have followed your counsel for many years,
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  Speaker 1: and they have brought us but little luck. We do
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  Speaker 1: not blame you, for the gods of Aniwak have deserted
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  Speaker 1: us as we have deserted them, and the gods alone
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  Speaker 1: stand between their men and their evil destiny. Whatever misfortunes
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  Speaker 1: we may have borne, you have shared in them. And
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  Speaker 1: so it is now at the end. Nor will we
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  Speaker 1: go back upon our words. In this the last hour
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  Speaker 1: of the people of the otomy we have chosen. We
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  Speaker 1: have lived free with you, and still free we will
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  Speaker 1: die with you, For like you, we hold that it
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  Speaker 1: is better for us and ours to perish us free
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  Speaker 1: men than to drag out the days beneath the yoke
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  Speaker 1: of the due. It is well, said Artomi. Now nothing
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  Speaker 1: remains for us except to seek a death so glorious
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  Speaker 1: that it should be sung of in after days. Husband,
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  Speaker 1: you have heard the answer of the council. Let the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Spaniards hear it also. So I went back to the wall,
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  Speaker 1: a white flag in my hand, and presently an envoy
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  Speaker 1: advanced from the Spanish camp to speak with me, not
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: de Garcia, but another. I told him in a few
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: words that those who remained alive of the people of
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  Speaker 1: the Ottomy would die beneath the ruins of their city,
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  Speaker 1: like the children of Tenupticulon before them, but that while
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  Speaker 1: they had a spear to throw and an arm to
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  Speaker 1: throw it, they would never yield to the tender mercies
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  Speaker 1: of the Spaniard. The envoy returned to the camp, and
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  Speaker 1: with an hour the attack began. Bringing up the pieces
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  Speaker 1: of ordnance. The Spaniards set them within little more than
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: a hundred paces of the gates, and began to batterers
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  Speaker 1: with iron shot at their leisure for hours. Spears and
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: arrows could scarcely harm them at such a distance. Still
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: we were not idle, for, seeing that the wooden gates
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: must soon be down, we demolished houses on either side
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  Speaker 1: of them, and filled up the roadway with stones and rubbish.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: At the rear of the heap thus formed, I caused
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: a great trench to be dug, which could not be
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: passed by horsemen and ordnance till it was filled in again.
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  Speaker 1: All along the main street leading to the great Square
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  Speaker 1: of the Tiochli. I threw up other barricades, protected in
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the front and the rear by dikes cut through the roadway,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and in the case the Spanish should try to turn
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: our flank and force a passage through the narrow and
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: tortuous lanes to the right and left, I also barricaded
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the four entrances to the great square or market place.
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  Speaker 1: Till nightfall. The Spaniels bombarded the shattered remains of the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: gates and the earthworks behind them, doing no great damage
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: beyond the killing of about a score of people by
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: cannon shot and arquebus balls. But they attempted no assault
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: that day. At length their darkness fell and their fire ceased,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: But not so our labors. Most of the men must
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: guard the gates and the weak spots in the walls,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: and therefore the building of the barricades was left chiefly
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to the women working under my command and that of
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: my captains. Ottomi herself took a share in the tall,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: an example that was followed by every lady, and indeed
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: by every woman in the city, and there were many
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: of them, for the women outnumbered the men among the Ottomy,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and moreover, not a few of them had been made widows.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: On that same day. It was a strange sight to
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: see them in the glare of hundreds of torches split
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: from the resent pine that gave its name to the city.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: As all night long they moved to and fro in lines,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: each of them staggering beneath the weight of a basket
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: of earth or heavy stone, or dug with wooden spades
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: at the hard soil. All labored at the pulling down
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: of houses. They never complained, but worked on sullenly and despairingly.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: No groan or tear broke from them, No, not even
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: from those whose husbands and sons had been hurled that
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: morning from the precipices of the pass. They knew that
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: resistance would be useless, and that their doom was at
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the hand. But no cry arose among them of surrender
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to the Spaniards. Those of them who spoke of the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: matter at all, said with otomy that it was better
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to die free than to die as slaves. But the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: most did not speak. The old and the young, mother, wife,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and widow and maid, they labored in silence, and their
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: children labored at their sides. Looking at them, it came
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: into my mind that these silent, patient women were inspired
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: by some common and desperate purpose that all knew of,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: but which none of them chose to tell. Will you
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: work so hard for your masters the tools? Cried a
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: voice in bitter mockery, as a file of them toiled
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: passed beneath their loads of stones. Fool answered the leader,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a young and lovely lady of rank. Do the dead labor? Nay,
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  Speaker 1: said the ill jester, But such as you are too
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: fair for the jewels to kill, and your years of
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: slavery will be many. Say how shall you escape them?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Fool answered the lady again, does fire die from lack
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: of fuel only? And must every man live till age
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  Speaker 1: takes him? We shall escape them. Thus, and casting down
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the torch she carried, she trod it into the earth
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: with her sandal, and went on with her load. Then
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I was sure that they had some purpose, though I
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: did not guess how desperate it was, and Ottomy would
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: tell me nothing of this woman's secret. Outemi, I said
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: to her that night, when we met my chance, I
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: have ill news for you. It must be bad, indeed, husband,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: to be so named in such an hour, She answered,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: de Gacier is among our foes. I knew it, husband, well,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: how did you know it? By the hate written in
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: your eyes? She answered, It seems that his hour of
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: triumph is at hand. I said, nay, beloved, not his,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: but yours. You shall triumph over de Garcia, but victory
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: will cost you, dear, I know it in my heart.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Ask me not how or why. See the queen puts
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: on her crown, and she pointed to the Vulcan shaka,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: whose snows grew rosy with the dawn. And you must
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: go to the gate, for the Spaniards will soon be stirring.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: As Ottomy spoke, I heard a trumpet blair without the walls,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: hurrying to the gates. By the first light of day,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: I could see that the Spaniards were mustering their forces
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: for attack. They did not come at once, however, but
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: delayed till the sun was well up. Then they began
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to pour a furious fire upon the defenses that reduced
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the shattered beams of the gates to powder, and even
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: shook down the crest of the earthwork beyond them. Suddenly
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the firing ceased, and again a trumpet called. Now they
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: charged us in a column, a thousand or more Tlascalans
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: leading the van, followed by the Spanish force. In two minutes, I,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: who awaited them beyond it, together with some three hundred
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: warriors of the Ottomy, saw their heads appear over the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: crest of the earthwork, and the fight began. Thrice we
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: drove them back with our spears and arrows, but at
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the fourth charge the wave of men swept over our
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: defense and poured into the dry ditch beyond. Now we
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: were forced to fly to the next earthwork, for we
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: could not hope to fight so many in the open
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: street with us. So soon as a passage had been
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: made for their horse and ordinance, the enemy followed us. Here.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: The fight was renewed, and this barricade, being very strong,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: we held it for hard upon two hours, with much
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: loss to ourselves and to the Spanish force. Again we retreated,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: and again we were assailed, and so the struggle went
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: on throughout the livelong day. Every hour our numbers grew
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: fewer and our arms fainter, but still we fought, armed desperately.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: At the last two barricades, hundreds of the women of
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: the Ottomy fought by the sides of their husbands and
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: their brothers. The last earthwork was captured by the Spaniards
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: just as the sun sank, and under the shadow of
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the approaching darkness, those of us that remained alive fled
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to the refuge which we had prepared upon the Teochli.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Nor was there any further fighting during that night. End
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: of Chapter thirty four, recorded by Patrick seventy nine