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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five, The last sacrifice of the women of
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  Speaker 1: the Ottomy here in the courtyard of the Tiochley, by
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the light of the burning houses. For as they advanced,
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  Speaker 1: the Spaniards fired the town. We mustered our array to
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  Speaker 1: find that there were left to us in all some
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  Speaker 1: four hundred fighting men, together with a crowd of nearly
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  Speaker 1: two thousand women and children. Now, although this Tiochley was
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  Speaker 1: not quite so lofty as that of the Great Temple
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  Speaker 1: of Mexico, its sides were steeper and everywhere laced with
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  Speaker 1: dressed stone, and the open space upon its summit was
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  Speaker 1: almost as great, measuring indeed more than a hundred paces
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  Speaker 1: every way. This area was paved with blocks of marble,
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  Speaker 1: and in its center stood the Temple of the War God,
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  Speaker 1: where the statue still sat, although no worship had been
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  Speaker 1: offered to him for many years, the Stone of Sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: the altar of Fire, and the storehouses of the priests. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: in front of the temple, and between it and the
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  Speaker 1: Stone of Sacrifice, was a deep, cemented hole the size
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  Speaker 1: of a large room, which once had been used as
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  Speaker 1: the place for the safe keeping of the grain in
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  Speaker 1: times of famine. This bit I had cause to be
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  Speaker 1: filled with water borne with great toil to the top
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  Speaker 1: of the pyramid, and in the temple itself. I stored
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  Speaker 1: a great quantity of food, so that we had no
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  Speaker 1: cause to fear present death from thirst or famine. But
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  Speaker 1: now we were face to face with a new trouble.
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  Speaker 1: Large as was the summit of the pyramid, it would
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  Speaker 1: not give shelter to a half of our numbers, And
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  Speaker 1: if we desired to defend it, some of the multi
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  Speaker 1: she had hearded round its base must seek refuge elsewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Calling the leaders of the people together, I put the
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  Speaker 1: matter before them in a few words, leaving them to
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  Speaker 1: decide what must be done. They in turn consulted among themselves,
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  Speaker 1: and at length gave me this answer, that it was
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  Speaker 1: agreed that all the wounded and aged there, together with
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  Speaker 1: most of the children, and with them any others who
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  Speaker 1: wished to go, should leave the Tiochli that night, to
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  Speaker 1: find their way out of the city if they could,
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  Speaker 1: or if not, to trust to the mercy of the Spaniards.
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  Speaker 1: I said, it was well, for death was on every side,
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  Speaker 1: and it mattered little which way men turned to meet it.
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  Speaker 1: So they were sorted out fifteen hundred or more of them,
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  Speaker 1: and at midnight the gates of the courtyard were thrown open,
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  Speaker 1: and they left. Oh, it was dreadful to see the
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  Speaker 1: farewells that took place in that hour. Here a daughter
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  Speaker 1: clung to the neck of her aged father. Here husbands
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  Speaker 1: and wives bade each other alas farewell. Here mothers kissed
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  Speaker 1: their little children, And on every side rose up the
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  Speaker 1: sounds of bitter agony, the agony of those who parted forever.
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  Speaker 1: I buried my face in my hands, wandering, as I
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  Speaker 1: had often wandered before, how a God whose name is
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  Speaker 1: Mercy can bear to look upon sights that break the
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  Speaker 1: hearts of sinful men? To witness? Presently, I raised my
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  Speaker 1: eyes and spoke to Ottomi, who was at my side,
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  Speaker 1: asked her if she would not send our son away
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  Speaker 1: with the others, passing him off for some child of
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  Speaker 1: common people, nay husband, She answered, it is better for
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  Speaker 1: him to die with us than to live as a
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  Speaker 1: slave of the Spaniards. At length, it was over, and
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  Speaker 1: the gates had shut behind the last of them. Soon
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  Speaker 1: we heard the distant challenge of the Spanish sentries as
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  Speaker 1: they perceived them, and the sound of shots, followed by cries. Oh, doubtless,
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  Speaker 1: the Talascans are massacring them, I said, But it was
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  Speaker 1: not so. When a few had been killed, the leaders
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  Speaker 1: of the Spaniards found that they waged war upon an
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  Speaker 1: unarmed mob made up of the most part of aged people,
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  Speaker 1: women and children. And their commander, Bernald Diaz, a merciful man,
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  Speaker 1: if a rough one, ordered that the onslaugh should sees.
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  Speaker 1: Indeed he did more, for when all the able bodied men,
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  Speaker 1: together with such children as were sufficiently strong to bear
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  Speaker 1: the fatigues of travel, had been sorted out to be
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  Speaker 1: sold as slaves, he suffered the rest of that melancholy
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  Speaker 1: company to depart whither they would, And so they went,
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  Speaker 1: though what became of them I do not know. That
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  Speaker 1: night we spent in the courtyard of the Teochley, but
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  Speaker 1: before it was light I caused the women and children
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  Speaker 1: who remained with us, perhaps some six hundred and all,
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  Speaker 1: for very few of the former, who were unmarried or
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  Speaker 1: who were married were still young and comely, had chosen
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  Speaker 1: to desert our refuge to ascend the pyramid. Guessing that
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  Speaker 1: the Spaniards would attack us at dawn, I stayed, however,
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  Speaker 1: with three hundred fighting men that were left me a
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  Speaker 1: hundred or more, having thrown themselves upon the mercy of
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  Speaker 1: the Spaniards. With the refe Fugeese to await the Spanish
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  Speaker 1: onset under shelter of the walls of the courtyard. At
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  Speaker 1: dawn it began, and by midday do what we could
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  Speaker 1: to stay it, the wall was stormed, and, leaving nearly
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  Speaker 1: a hundred dead and wounded behind me, I was driven
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  Speaker 1: to the winding way that led to the summit of
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  Speaker 1: the pyramid. Here they assaulted us again, but the road
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  Speaker 1: was steep and narrow, and their numbers gave no great
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  Speaker 1: advantage on it, so that the end of it was
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  Speaker 1: that we beat them back with loss, and there was
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  Speaker 1: no more fighting that day. The night which followed we
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  Speaker 1: spent upon the summit of the pyramid, and for my part,
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  Speaker 1: I was so weary that after I had even I
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  Speaker 1: never slept more soundly. Next morning the struggle began anew,
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  Speaker 1: and this time with better success to the Spaniards. Inch
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  Speaker 1: by inch, under cover of the heavy fire from the
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  Speaker 1: arquebuses and pieces, they forced us upwards and backward. All
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  Speaker 1: day long, the fight continued upon the narrow road that
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  Speaker 1: wound from stage to stage of the pyramid. At length.
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  Speaker 1: As the sun sank, a company of our foes, their
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  Speaker 1: advance guard, with shouts of victory, emerged upon the flat
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  Speaker 1: of the summit, and rushed towards the temple in its center.
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  Speaker 1: All this while the women had been watching. But now
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  Speaker 1: one of them sprang up, crying with a loud voice,
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  Speaker 1: seize them, they are but a few. Then, with a
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  Speaker 1: fearful scream of rage, the mob of women cast themselves
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  Speaker 1: upon the weary Spaniards and Tlascans, bearing them down by
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  Speaker 1: the weight of their numbers. Many of them were slain, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: but in the and the women conquered Aye and made
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  Speaker 1: their victims captive, fastening them with cords to the rings
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  Speaker 1: of copper that were let into the stones of the pavement,
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  Speaker 1: to which in former days those doomed to sacrifice have
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  Speaker 1: been secured. When their numbers were so great that the
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  Speaker 1: priests feared lest they should escape, I and the soldiers
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  Speaker 1: with me watched this sight wondering. Then I cried out,
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  Speaker 1: what men of the otomy, shall it be said that
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  Speaker 1: our women out did us encourage? And without further ado,
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  Speaker 1: followed by a hundred or more of my companions, I
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  Speaker 1: rushed desperately down the steep and narrow path. At the
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  Speaker 1: first corner we met the main array of Spaniards and
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  Speaker 1: their allies, coming up slowly, for now they were sure
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  Speaker 1: of victory, and so great was the shock of our
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  Speaker 1: encounter that many of them were hurled over the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the path to roll down the steep sides of
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  Speaker 1: the pyramid. Seeing the fate of their comrades, those behind
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  Speaker 1: them halted, then began to retreat. Presently, the weight of
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  Speaker 1: our rush struck them also, and they in turn pushed
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  Speaker 1: upon those below, till at length panic seized them, and
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  Speaker 1: with a great crying, the long line of men that
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  Speaker 1: wound round and round the pyramid from its base almost
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  Speaker 1: to its summit, sought safety in flight, but some of
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  Speaker 1: them found none, for the rush of those above, pressing
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  Speaker 1: with ever increasing force upon their friends below, drove many
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  Speaker 1: to their death, since here on the pyramid there was
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  Speaker 1: nothing to cling to, and if once a man lost
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  Speaker 1: his foothold on the path, his fall was broken only
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  Speaker 1: when his body reached the court beneath. Thus, in fifteen
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  Speaker 1: short minutes, all that the Spaniards had won this day
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  Speaker 1: was lost again, for except the prisoners at its summit,
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  Speaker 1: none of them remained alive upon the Teocholi. Indeed, so
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  Speaker 1: great a terrors took them that bearing with them theyre
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  Speaker 1: dead and wounded. They retreated under cover of the night
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  Speaker 1: to their camp without the walls of the court yard. Oh. Now,
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  Speaker 1: weary but triumphant, we wended back towards the crest of
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  Speaker 1: the pyramid. But as I turned the corner of the
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  Speaker 1: second angle, that was perhaps nearly one hundred feet above
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  Speaker 1: the level of the ground, a thought struck me, and
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  Speaker 1: I set those with me a task loosening the blocks
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  Speaker 1: of stone that formed the edge of the roadway. We
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  Speaker 1: rolled them down the sides of the pyramid, and so
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  Speaker 1: labored on, removing layer upon layer of stones and of
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  Speaker 1: the earth beneath, till where the path had been was
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  Speaker 1: nothing but a yawning gap thirty feet or more in width. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I said, surveying our handiwork by the light of the
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  Speaker 1: rising moon. That spaniard who would win our nest must
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  Speaker 1: first find wings to fly with, I too, answered one
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  Speaker 1: at my side. But say what wings shall we find?
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  Speaker 1: The wings of death? I said grimly, and went on
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  Speaker 1: my upward way. It was near midnight when I reached
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  Speaker 1: the temple for the labor of leveling the road took
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  Speaker 1: many hours, and food had been sent to us from above.
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  Speaker 1: As I drew nigh, I was amazed to hear the
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  Speaker 1: sound of solemn chanting. And still more was I amazed
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  Speaker 1: when I saw that the doors of the Temple of
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  Speaker 1: Wheatzel were open, and that the sacred fire, which had
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  Speaker 1: not shone there from many years, once more flared fiercely
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  Speaker 1: upon his altar. I stood still, listening. Did my ears
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  Speaker 1: trick me? Or did I hear the dreadful sound of sacrifice? Nay? Again,
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  Speaker 1: its wild refrain rang out upon the silence, to THEE
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  Speaker 1: we sacrifice, save us wheat soul, wheat soul, Lord God.
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  Speaker 1: I rushed forward, and turning the angle of the temple,
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  Speaker 1: I found myself face to face with the past. For there,
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  Speaker 1: as in bygone years, where the pabus clad in their
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  Speaker 1: black clothes, their long hair hanging about their shoulders, their
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  Speaker 1: dreadful knife of glass fixed in their girdles, there to
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  Speaker 1: the right of the stone of sacrifice were those destined
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  Speaker 1: to the God, and their being led towards it. Was
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  Speaker 1: the first victim, a Talascan prisoner, his limbs held by
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  Speaker 1: men clad in dress of priests near him, Arrayed in
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  Speaker 1: the scarlet robe of sacrifice, stood one of my captains,
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  Speaker 1: whom I remembered had once served as a priest of Tescat,
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  Speaker 1: before idolatry was forbidden in the city of Pines. And
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  Speaker 1: around were a wide circle of women that watched, and
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  Speaker 1: from whose lips swelled the awful chant. Now I understood
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  Speaker 1: it all. In their last despair, maddened by the loss
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  Speaker 1: of fathers, husbands and children, by their cruel fate, and
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  Speaker 1: standing face to face with certain death, the fire of
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  Speaker 1: the old faith had burnt up in their savage hearts.
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  Speaker 1: There was the temple, there were the stone and implements
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  Speaker 1: of sacrifice, and there on the hands were the victims
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  Speaker 1: taken in war. They would glut a last revenge. They
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  Speaker 1: would sacrifice to their father's gods, as their fathers had
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  Speaker 1: done before them. And the victims should be taken from
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  Speaker 1: their own victorious foes. Ay, they must die, but at
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  Speaker 1: least they would seek the mansions of the sun, made
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  Speaker 1: wholly by the blood of the accursed. You. I have
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  Speaker 1: said that it was the women who sang this chant
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  Speaker 1: and glared so fiercely upon their victims. But I have
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  Speaker 1: not yet told you all the horror of what I saw.
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  Speaker 1: For in the forefront of their circle, clad in white robes,
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  Speaker 1: the necklet of great emeralds, Guatemauk's gift flashing upon her breast,
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  Speaker 1: the plumes of royal greens set in her hair, giving
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  Speaker 1: the time of the death chant with a little wand
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  Speaker 1: stood Mount Zumer's daughter, Artemi, my wife. Never had I
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  Speaker 1: seen her look so beautiful or so dreadful. It was
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  Speaker 1: not Otomi whom I saw, For where was the tender smile,
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  Speaker 1: and where the gentle eyes? Here before me was a
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  Speaker 1: living vengeance, wearing the shape of woman. In an instant,
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  Speaker 1: I guessed the truth, though I did not know it all. Artemi, who,
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  Speaker 1: although she was not of it, had ever favored the
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  Speaker 1: Christian faith. Otomi, who for years had never spoken of
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  Speaker 1: these dreadful rites except with anger, whose every act was
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  Speaker 1: love and whose every word was kindness, was still in
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  Speaker 1: her soul an idolater and a savage. She had hidden
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  Speaker 1: this side of her heart from me well through all
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  Speaker 1: these years. Perchance she herself had scarcely known his secret.
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  Speaker 1: For but twice I had seen anything of the buried
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: fierceness of her blood. The first time was when Marina
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  Speaker 1: had brought her a certain robe in which she might
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  Speaker 1: escape from the camp of Cortes, and she had spoken
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  Speaker 1: to Marina of that robe and the second when, on
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  Speaker 1: this same day she had played her part to the
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  Speaker 1: Taalascan and had struck him down with her own hand
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  Speaker 1: as he bent over me. All this and much more
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: passed through my mind in that brief moment, while Ottomy
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: marked the time of the death chant and the Pabas
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  Speaker 1: dragged the Telascan to his doom. The next I was
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  Speaker 1: at her side. What passes here? I asked sternly. Artemi
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  Speaker 1: looked on me with a cold wonder and empty eyes,
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  Speaker 1: as though she did not know me. Go back, white man,
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  Speaker 1: she answered, It is not lawful for strangers to mingle
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  Speaker 1: in our rights. Oh. I stood bewildered, not knowing what
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  Speaker 1: to do, while the flame burned and the chant went
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: up before the effigy of Whitzel, of the demon Whitzel.
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  Speaker 1: Awakened after many years of sleep, again and yet again
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  Speaker 1: the solemn chant arose Artomi, beating time with her little
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: rod of ebony. And again and yet again the cry
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  Speaker 1: of triumph rose to the silent stars. Now I awoke
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  Speaker 1: from my dream for as an evil dream, it seemed
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  Speaker 1: to me, and drawing my sword, I rushed towards the
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: priest at the altar to cut him down. But though
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the men stood still, the women were too quick for me.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Before I could lift the sword, before I could even
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  Speaker 1: speak a word, they had sprung upon me like he
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: was of their own forest, and like jaguars, they hissed
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  Speaker 1: and growled into my ears. Get your gantule, they said,
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  Speaker 1: lest we stretch you on the stone with your brethren.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And still hissing, they pushed me. Thence I drew back
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: and thought for a while. In the shadow of the temple,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: my eye fell upon the long line of victims awaiting
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: their turn of sacrifice. There were thirty and one of
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: them still alive, and of these five were Spaniards. I
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: noticed that the Spaniards were chained, the last of all
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the line. It seemed that the murderers would keep them
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: till the end of the feast. Indeed, I discovered that
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: they were all to be offered up at the rising
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  Speaker 1: of the sun. How could I save them, I wondered.
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  Speaker 1: My power was gone. The women could not be moved
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  Speaker 1: from their work of vengeance. They were mad with their sufferings,
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  Speaker 1: as well might a man try to snatch her prey
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  Speaker 1: from a pumor robbed of her whelps, as to turn
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  Speaker 1: them from their purpose. With the men. It was otherwise, however,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: some of them mingled in the orgy, indeed, but more
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  Speaker 1: stood aloof watching with a fearful joy the spectacle in
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: which they did not share. Near me was a man,
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  Speaker 1: a noble of the otomy of something more of my
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: own age. He had always been my friend, and after
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  Speaker 1: me he commanded the warriors of the tribe. I went
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  Speaker 1: to him and said, friend, for the sake of the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: honor of your people, help me to end this. I
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: cannot chule, he answered, And beware how you meddle in
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  Speaker 1: the play, for none will stand by you. Now. The
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: women have power, and you see they use it. They
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: are about to die, but before they die they will
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  Speaker 1: do as their fathers did. For their straight is sore.
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  Speaker 1: And though they have been put aside, the old customs
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: are not forgotten. At least can we not save the tools?
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  Speaker 1: I answered, Why should you wish to save the jools?
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Will they save us some few days hence, when we
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: are in their power? Well perhaps not, I said, But
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: if we must die let us die clean from this shame.
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  Speaker 1: What then, do you wish me to do duel this?
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  Speaker 1: I would have you find some three or four men
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  Speaker 1: who are not falling into this madness, and with them
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  Speaker 1: aid me to loose the jools, for we cannot save
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  Speaker 1: the others. If this may be done, surely we can
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: lower them with ropes from the point where the road
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: is broken away, down to the path beneath, and thus
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: they may escape to their own people. I will try,
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  Speaker 1: he answered, shrugging his shoulders, not from any tenderness towards
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: the accursed tules, whom I could well bear to see
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: stretched upon the stone, but because it is your wish,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and for the sake of the friendship between us. Then
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: he went, And presently I saw several men place themselves,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: as though by chance. Between the spot were the last
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: of the line of Indian prisoners, and the first of
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the Spaniards, were made fast in such a fashion as
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to hide them from the sight of the maddened women,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: engrossed as they were in their orgies. Now I crept
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: up to the Spaniards. They were squatted upon the ground,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: bound by their hands and feet to the copper rings
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: in the pavement. There they sat silently awaiting the dreadful doom,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: their faith gray with terror, and their eyes starting from
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: their sockets st I whispered in Spanish into the ear
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: of the first, an old man whom I knew as
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: one who had taken part in the wars of Cortes.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Would you be saved? He looked up quickly and said,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: in a hoarse voice, who are you their talk of
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: saving us? Who can save us from these she devils?
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  Speaker 1: I am Atule, a man of white blood, and a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: and a last I must say it the captain of
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: this savage people, with the aid of some few men
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  Speaker 1: who are faithful to me, I purpose to cut your bonds,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and afterwards you shall see no Spaniard, that I do
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: this at great risk, For if we are caught, it
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: is a chance that I myself shall have to suffer
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: those things from which I hope to rescue. You be assured,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: answered the Spaniard that if we should get safe away,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: we shall not forget this service. Save our lives now
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: and the time may come when we shall pay you
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: back with yours. But even if we are loosed, how
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: can we cross the open space in this moonlight and escape?
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: The eyes of those furies. We must trust a chance
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: for that, I answered, And as I spoke, fortune helped
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: us strangely, for by now the Spaniards in their camp
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: below had perceived what was going forward to the crest
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: of the Teochli. A yell of horror rose from them,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and instantly they opened fire upon us with their pieces
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and arquebusses. Though because of the shape of the pyramid
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and their position beneath it, the storm of shot swept
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: over us, doing us little or no hurt. Also, our
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: great company of them poured across the courtyard, hoping to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: storm the temple, for they did not know the road
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: had been broken away. Now, though the rights of sacrifice
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: never ceased, what with the roar of the cannon, the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: shouts of rage and terror from the Spaniards, and the
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: hiss of musket balls, and the crackling of fire from
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: houses which they had fired to give them more light,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and the sound of chanting, the turmoil and confusion grew
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: so great as to render the carrying out of my
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: purpose easier than I hoped. By this time, my friend,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the captain of the Ottomy, was at my side, and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: with him several men whom he could trust. Stooping down,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: with a few swift blows of a knife, I cut
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the ropes which bound the Spaniards. Then we gathered ourselves
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: into a knot, twelve or more of us, and in
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: the center of the knot we set the five Spaniards.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: This done, I drew my sold and cried the duel
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: storm the Temple, which was true, for already their line
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: was rushing up the winding path. The juel storm the Temple.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I go to stop them, and straight away we sped
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: across the open space. None saw us, or if they
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: saw us, none hindered us, for all the company were
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: intent upon the consummation of a flesh sacrifice. Moreover, the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: tumult was such as I after was discovered that we
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: were scarcely noticed. Two minutes passed, and our feet were
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: set upon the winding way. And now I breathed again,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: for we were beyond the sight of the women. On
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: We rushed swiftly as the cramped limbs of the Spaniards
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: could carry them, till presently we reached the at angle
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: of the path where the breach began. The attacking Spaniards
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: had already come to the further side of the gap.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: For though we could not see them, we could hear
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: their cries of rage and despair as they halted helplessly,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: and understood that their conways were beyond their aid. Now
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: we are sped, said that spaniard with whom I had spoken.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: The road is gone, and it must be certain death
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to try the other side of the pyramid. Not so,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: I answered, Some fifty feet below the path still runs,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: and one by one we will lower you to it
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: with this rope. Then we set to work, making the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: cord fast beneath the arms of a soldier, and let
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: him down gently till he came to the path and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: was received there by his comrades as a man returned
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: from the dead. The last to be lowd was that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Spaniard with whom I had spoken. Farewell, he said, and
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: may the blessings of God beyond you for this act
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: of mercy renegade the oh you are say, now, will
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: you not come with me? I set my life and
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: honor to pledge for your safety. You tell me that
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: you are still a Christian man? Is that a place
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: for Christians? And he pointed upwards. No, indeed, I answered,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: But still I cannot come for my wife and son
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: are there, and I must return to die with them
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: if need be. If you bear me any gratitude, strive
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to return to save their lives, since for my own
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I care but little that I will, he said. And
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: then we let him down among his friends, whom he
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: reached in safety. Now we return to the temple, giving
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: it out that the Spaniards were in retreat, having failed
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: to cross the breach of the roadway here before the temple,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the your she still went on, but two Indians remained alive,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and the priests of sacrifice grew weary. Where are the Jools,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: cried a voice, swift strip them for the altar. But
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the Jools were gone, Nor search were they would could
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: they find them? Their God has taken them beneath his wing,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I said, speaking from the shadow in a faint voice.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Their God has taken them beneath his wings, I said,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: speaking from the shadow in a faint voice. Whut soul
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: cannot prevail before the gods of the Jools. Then I
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: slipped aside, so that none knew it was I who
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: had spoken. But the cry was up and echoed far
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: and wide. The God of the Christians has hidden them
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: beneath his wing. Let us make merry with those whom
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: he rejects, said the cry, and the last of the
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: captives were dragged away. Now I thought that all was finished,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: but this was not so. I have spoken of the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: secret purpose which I read in the sullen eyes of
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: the Indian women as we labored on the barricades, and
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I was about to see its execution. Madness still burned
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: in the hearts of these women. They had accomplished their sacrifice,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: but their festival was still to come. They drew themselves
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: away to the further side of the pyramid, and heedless
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: of the shots which now and again pierced the breast
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: of one of them, For here they were exposed to
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the Spanish fire remained awhile in preparation with them went
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the priests of Sacrifice. But now, as before, the rest
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: of the men stood in sullen groups, watching what befell,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: but lifting no hand or voice to hinder its hellishness.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: One woman did not go with them, and that woman
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: was OUTTERMI my wife. She stood by the stone of sacrifice.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Oh a piteous sight to see for her frenzy, or
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: rather her madness, had outworn itself. And she was as
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: she had ever been. There stood OUTTERMI, gazing with wide
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and horror stricken eyes, now at the tokens of this
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: unholy right, and now at her own hands, as though
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: she thought to see them red. And it shuddered at
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the thought. I drew near to her and touched her
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: on the shoulder. She turned swiftly, gasping, husband, Oh, husband,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: it is, I, I answered, But call me husband no more.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Oh what have I done? She wailed, and fell senseless
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: in my arms. And here I will add what at
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: that time I knew nothing of, for it was told
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: me in after years by the rector of this parish,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: a very learned man, though on a very narrow mind.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Had I known it, indeed, I should have spoken more
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: kindly to Ottomy, my wife, even in that hour, and
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: thought more gently of her wickedness. It seems so, said
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: my friend the rector, that from the most ancient times,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: those women who have bent the knee of demon gods,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: such as were the gods of Anahuac, were subject at
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: any time to become possessed by them, even after they
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: have abandoned their worship, and to be driven in their
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: frenzy to the work of the greatest crimes. Thus, among
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: other instances, he told me that a Greek poet named
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Theocritus sets out in one of his idols, how a
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: woman named Agave, being engaged in a secret religious orgy
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: in honor of a demon named Dionysus, perceived her own
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: son Pentheus, watching the celebration of the mysteries, and thereon
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: becoming possessed by the demon. She fell on him and
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: murdered him, being aided by the other women. For this.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: The poet, who was also a worshiper of Dionysus, gave
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: her great honor and not reproach, seeing that she did
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: the deed at the behest of his God, a deed
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: not to be blamed. Now I write of this for
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a reason, though it has nothing to do with me,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: for it seems that as Dionysus possess Estagave, driving her
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: to unnatural murder, so did Whetzel possess Ottomi. And indeed
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: she said as much to me afterwards, For I am
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: sure that if the devils whom the Greeks worshiped had
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: such power, as still greater strength was given to those
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: of Anuak, who, among all fiends were the first. If
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: this be so, as I believe, it was not Otomi
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: that I saw at the rites of sacrifice, but rather
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: the demon Whetzel, whom she once worshiped, and who had
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: power therefore to enter into her body for a while
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: in place of her own spirit. End of Chapter thirty five.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Recording by Patrick seventy nine