Let us have
done now with pleading to those who are not, or who, if they live,
are deaf to our cries and blind to our misery, and befriend ourselves.
Yonder lies rope, that window has bars, very soon we can be beyond the
sun and the cruelty of Teules, or sound asleep. But there is time yet;
let us talk a while, they will scarcely begin their torments before the
dawn, and ere dawn we shall be far.'
So we talked as well as my sufferings would allow. We talked of how we
first had met, of how Otomie had been vowed to me as the wife of Tezcat,
Soul of the World, of that day when we had lain side by side upon the
stone of sacrifice, of our true marriage thereafter, of the siege
of Tenoctitlan and the death of our first-born. Thus we talked till
midnight was two hours gone. Then there came a silence.
'Husband,' said Otomie at last in a hushed and solemn voice, 'you are
worn with suffering, and I am weary. It is time to do that which must
be done. Sad is our fate, but at least rest is before us. I thank you,
husband, for your gentleness, I thank you more for your faithfulness to
my house and people. Shall I make ready for our last journey?'
'Make ready!' I answered.
Then she rose and soon was busy with the ropes. At length all was
prepared and the moment of death was at hand.
'You must aid me, Otomie,' I said; 'I cannot walk by myself.
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