For while I stood thus, Otomie
clasped my hand, and whispering, 'Fly, fly swiftly!' led me away from
the stone of sacrifice.
'Whither shall we go?' I said at length. 'Were it not better to trust to
the mercy of the Spaniards?'
'To the mercy of that man-devil with the sword?' she answered. 'Peace,
Teule, and follow me.'
Now she led me on, and the Spaniards let us by unharmed, ay, and even
spoke words of pity as we passed, for they knew that we were victims
snatched from sacrifice. Indeed, when a certain brute, a Tlascalan
Indian, rushed at us, purposing to slay us with a club, one of the
Spaniards ran him through the shoulder so that he fell wounded to the
pavement.
So we went on, and at the edge of the pyramid we glanced back and saw
that de Garcia had broken from those who held him, or perhaps he found
his tongue and had explained the truth to them. At the least he was
bounding from the altar of sacrifice nearly fifty yards away, and coming
towards us with uplifted sword. Then fear gave us strength, and we fled
like the wind. Along the steep path we rushed side by side, leaping down
the steps and over the hundreds of dead and dying, only pausing now and
again to save ourselves from being smitten into space by the bodies
of the priests whom the Spaniards were hurling from the crest of the
teocalli. Once looking up, I caught sight of de Garcia pursuing far
above us, but after that we saw him no more; doubtless he wearied of the
chase, or feared to fall into the hands of such of the Aztec warriors as
still clustered round the foot of the pyramid.
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