By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico by G. A. Henty (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📖

council has been held, and Montezuma is full of alarm. The priests have decided that you are undoubtedly a spy, and must be sacrificed, at once, to the gods. I happened to be behind the hanging, heard what was said, and hurried away to warn you.

"There is not a moment to lose. Go round to the garden, and conceal yourself in the shrubbery near the eagle house. I will tell Cacama where you are, and he will come or send down to you, to say what had best be done, and where you are to go. Do not delay an instant. The orders were urgent, and they will be here in a minute or two to seize you.

"Not a word, now. Go! I must not be found here. I will see you again," and she was gone.

"Come, my friend," Cuitcatl said; "there is evidently not a moment to be lost."

Roger ran into his room; emptied, from a drawer where they were lying, the gold ornaments and presents he had received, and tied them in a cloth; caught up his sword and then, with Cuitcatl, hurried down the passage. Just as they reached the end, they saw a party appear at the other extremity, preceded by an official carrying torches.

"We are but just in time," the young noble said. "The princess has saved your life."

In two or three minutes they were in the garden and keeping carefully in the shade of the shrubs, so as to escape the view of any who might be sitting at the windows, or on the flat roof of the palace, enjoying the lovely evening and the bright moonlight. They made their way cautiously down to the eagle house, which lay at the other end of the garden, nearly half a mile from the palace. The whole thing had come so suddenly upon Roger that he could scarcely believe, even now, that his pleasant and tranquil time had come to an end, and he was in danger of being dragged away and instantly sacrificed.

Scarce a word was spoken until they reached the spot indicated. Close to this grew a large patch of bamboos.

"We will take refuge here, for the present," Cuitcatl said. "It is hardly likely they will search the gardens at night. It would need an army to do so thoroughly. If we hear footsteps approaching, we can take refuge inside; and meantime, let us seat ourselves here.

"These must be the people you told us of, the first night you came."

"No doubt they are so; but, Cuitcatl, you had best return at once to your chamber. You will be missed as well as I shall, and it would be suspected that you had a share in my flight; and if I should make my escape, the emperor's vengeance may fall on you. Pray leave me at once. I should be most unhappy if my misfortunes brought trouble upon you. You have been like a brother to me, since I came here."

"I should not think of leaving you," the young noble said firmly.

"But you can do me more good by going, Cuitcatl. You will see what is taking place there, and may throw them off the scent; while here you can do me no good whatever, and indeed might do me harm. Were I found here with you, I should be forced to surrender without striking a blow; for I should be afraid to resist, lest I should bring harm upon you; whereas, if I am alone, I would fight to the death rather than surrender. Besides, you will be able to consult the princess, and can bring down such things as you may consider will aid me in my flight--though how I am to escape the search there will be after me is more than I can guess. Pray go at once, for the sooner you go the sooner you can bring me back news of what is being done up there."

Cuitcatl saw the justice of Roger's reasoning.

"I may, at least, throw them off the scent," he said, "and see about preparing for your flight. You promise to hide in the bamboos there, if searchers should come in this direction?"

"Certainly I do. I will do all in my power to conceal myself, and will only fight if there be no other way."

Cuitcatl at once glided noiselessly off, keeping as before in the shadow of the bushes. For an hour and a half Roger remained alone. He was sitting under the shadow of the bamboos, and could in a moment withdraw himself among them.

At last he thought he heard a slight noise, and drew back towards the thick canes. A moment later, however, he stepped forward, as a figure he at once recognized advanced across a patch of moonlight from the next clump of shrubs.

"All is well so far," Cuitcatl said. "Directly I entered the palace, an attendant told me that I was being inquired for, and I proceeded straight to the royal apartments. Montezuma's messengers were there. They at once asked me if I had seen you. I said yes, that we had been walking together, but that you had not returned with me, as you said that the night was so lovely you should remain out for some time longer. They asked me if I could lead them to where you were; but I said that you had not told me which way you should go, and you might, for aught I knew, have taken a canoe and gone for a moonlight row on the lake, as was often your custom.

"Orders have been issued to the city guard to arrest you, immediately, wherever you might be found; and the envoys themselves started at once, with the guard they had brought with them, to the waterside. Up to that time Cacama, who had not left them, was in ignorance what had become of you; and I could see he was anxious, and much troubled."

"'Do you know where he is?' he asked me, as soon as we were alone.

"'Would it not be better, your Majesty,' I said, 'that you should remain in ignorance? Should he escape, Montezuma will be furious; and it might be well that you should be able to affirm, on your oath, that you knew nothing of him, and were in no way privy to his escape.'

"'But is there a chance of his escaping?' he asked.

"'We will do what we can,' I said; 'and we can do no more. With a disguise, a guide, and arms, Roger Hawkshaw may be able to make his way through the country, in spite of Montezuma and his army. I should think that the best thing will be to get him into a small canoe, take him to the end of the lake, and land him near Tepechpan. Then he can strike up north, take to the hills there, and then journey east. All the roads direct from here will be so guarded that it will be impossible to get through. The search will be close everywhere; but there will be more chance of escape, on that line, than from here.'

"'But how about the guide? Whom can we trust?'

"'I have one of my hunters in the town. He brought some game down from my estate today, and was not to return until tomorrow. I know where he lodges. He is a brave fellow, and carried my banner in the last campaign.'

"'You will let me know before he starts?' the king asked.

"'I will, your Majesty. The moon will not be down for three hours, yet, and he cannot attempt to fly until it has set.'

"As I left the royal apartment, one of the female attendants came up and, putting her finger on her lip, signed to me to follow her. I did so, and she led me to the apartment where the Queen and Princess Amenche were awaiting me.

"'You have left your friend safe, Cuitcatl?' the queen said. 'The princess has told me the part she has taken in the affair. It was foolish, but I cannot blame her, though if Montezuma knew by whose means the prey had slipped from his fingers, the least she could expect would be to be ordered to retire, for life, to one of the temples. Have you formed any plans?'

"I told her what I had thought of.

"'That seems as good a plan as any other,' she said. 'He will need paints to disguise himself, the dress of a peasant, and arms.'

"'He has his sword,' I said.

"'He cannot take that. Its golden handle would betray him, at once. A heavy woodman's ax, and a bow and spear, would be the most suitable.'

"'He shall have them,' I said. 'My hunter shall take them, and place them in the canoe, in readiness.'

"'What are you going to do now?'

"'I am going first into the town, to give my hunter his instructions, and bid him be at the lake entrance to the gardens, half an hour after the moon has set. I shall want the key of the gate. Next I shall go down, and tell Roger what preparations have been made; and then return here, for it is best I should be seen in the palace. Then, just as the moon sets, I shall go down again to him.'

"'Come here on your way, Cuitcatl. I shall go down with Amenche to say goodbye to him. This obstinate girl has determined to go, and I cannot let her go alone.'

"As soon as I left them, I went down to the town and found my hunter, who has taken a vow to lay down his life to save you, if necessary.

"Here are some peasant's clothes--a coarse cotton mantle, and a short skirt. Here is a jar of dye. You had better strip at once, and let me color you, and then put on these clothes. It will be too dark to see to do it properly, when I return. Besides, time will be short then.

"This small jar contains some dye from the juice of a plant which will turn your hair black--at least, as they use it for dyeing the skins of animals black, I suppose it will affect your hair."

Roger at once took off his gaudy attire, and was stained from head to foot with the contents of the jug, and then rubbed his hair with the liquid from the smaller vessel. Then he put on the peasant's clothes.

"You will pass well, now," Cuitcatl said, heading him out in the moonlight, so that he could obtain a good view of him. "It is only your height that is against you. Still, some men are taller than others; though I never saw one as tall as you, and you will certainly be stared at.

"Is there anything else in the way of arms you would like, beside the ax and spear?"

"I shall make myself a bow and arrows, when we get fairly away," Roger said.

"I did not know you could use them."

"I could not use such little things as those your people carry; but we still use the bow in England, and every boy is obliged, by law, to practice with it. With such a bow as I should make, I could send an arrow three times as far as those puny weapons of yours, and could keep my foes at a distance; whereas, otherwise, they could shoot me down as they chose."

"They will not shoot you down," Cuitcatl said. "You may be quite sure that the orders will be to take you alive, and this will give you a great advantage, if you are attacked. But I must be going up now to the palace again, to show myself, for a time, among our friends. Just as the moon sets I will be here."

"Will you thank the queen and princess for their kindness," Roger said, "and say that, much as I should like to say goodbye to them, I would not that they should run any risks by coming to see me?"

"They will come," Cuitcatl said, "unless I am greatly mistaken. The princess would come, even if her uncle Montezuma were, himself, watching her."

Roger sat down again, and watched the moon going down. He felt a certain sense of exhilaration at the thought that he was about to enter upon a life of active adventure, again. It had seemed to him, lately, that his life was to be spent in this strange country, cut off from all chances of ever returning to England; and that, sooner or later, he was assuredly destined to form a part of their hideous sacrifices. The party against him had been silenced for a moment, but would be sure to gather strength again; and he would be called upon either to worship these bloodstained idols, or to die.

Life was pleasant enough as it was, at present, with the friendship of the young king, and the kindness of the queen and princess; but he would soon be