The Teule is a son of Quetzal, as you have yourself declared,
and Quetzal will be avenged because of his son. Away with him, here is
your warrant.'
Then the priests, who till this moment had been his servants, dragged
their chief to the stone, and there, notwithstanding his prayers and
bellowings, one who had donned his mantle practised his own art upon
him, and presently his body was cast down the side of the pyramid. For
my part I am not sufficient of a Christian to pretend that I was sorry
to see him die in that same fashion by which he had caused the death of
so many better men.
When it was done Guatemoc turned to me and said, 'So perish all your
enemies, my friend Teule.'
Within an hour of this event, which revealed to me how great was the
power of Montezuma, seeing that the sight of a ring from his finger
could bring about the instant death of a high priest at the hands of
his disciples, we started on our long journey. But before I went I bid a
warm farewell to my friend the cacique, and also to Marina, who wept at
my going. The cacique I never saw again, but Marina I did see.
For a whole month we travelled, for the way was far and the road rough,
and sometimes we must cut our path through forests and sometimes we must
wait upon the banks of rivers. Many were the strange sights that I saw
upon that journey, and many the cities in which we sojourned in much
state and honour, but I cannot stop to tell of all these.
Pages:
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203