Читать книгу A Prince of Anahuac - James A. Porter - Страница 11

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The laws by which the nations of Anahuac were governed were comprehensive as well as very severe. Every subject was expected to have knowledge of them, and the people were, accordingly, instructed in them by means of hieroglyphical paintings.

Crimes against society were punished with slavery or death, according to the magnitude of the offense. Theft and robbery were placed in this category, and met with the severest punishment. If the accused was found guilty, his fate was sealed; there was no escape from the penalty, so rigidly were the laws enforced.

These conditions, together with the strict surveillance of the military police, made it hazardous for any one to be abroad at night, unless adequate reason for it could be made apparent.

Protected in this thorough manner, the people had no fear of depredators, and took no precautions against them. No bolts, bars or other fastenings, as a protection, were to be found on their doors, when doors were used; in fact, more times than otherwise, only a curtain shielded the privacy of a home from the outside world. They felt as secure with an open door as the most enlightened Christian citizen would amid the highest order of civilization, behind his locks and bolts, supplemented by the latest improved burglar-alarm.

We now return to Zelmonco villa. We find it wrapped in deepest silence; the inmates are lost in the oblivion of sleep; the birds that make glad its environs under the light of day are perched in confidence and security on their chosen limb. The hour is that in which Nature wraps with sleep her children closest 'round about—the midnight hour, silent and solemn.

At this unseemly time two shadowy forms steal noiselessly into the park at the foot of the hill, and pause in an attitude of listening. No sound is heard, save the beating of a heart by each. After satisfying themselves that no living thing is astir within their hearing, they move cautiously up toward the house; and presently, when near its entrance, pass within the protecting shadow of a thickly foliaged tree and stop.

Before leaving the weaver's cottage, Hualcoyotl had decided to stop at Zelmonco villa, where he purposed remaining over one day, while Oza would be sent on to communicate with a good friend—a loyal Tezcucan who lived a short day's journey toward the mountains—to inform him of the prince's perilous situation and desire to find shelter and concealment with him for a few hours.

The night was not dark, for the stars were shining very brightly, as they always seem to in the clear sky of that sunny clime. To the fugitives their luster appeared to be remarkably brilliant, causing them to shun the roadways for fear of discovery and arrest; as a consequence, halts and frequent change of course made their progress slow, and the hour of their arrival at the villa late.

The reader has, no doubt, guessed who it was that entered Zelmonco park at midnight, and, passing up to the villa, paused in the shadow of a tree near its entrance.

The prince's breathing, when they stopped—for it was he and his attendant—was somewhat labored. The long and arduous walk from the city, and the effort required to gain the summit of the hill on which the villa stood, had severely tested the strength of his wind; which, from long confinement and inactivity, had become, in some degree, ennervated. He quickly regained his composure, and, while they yet stood within the tree's shadow, his thoughts turned upon himself and his peculiarly discouraging situation. He mentally soliloquized: "Like a rudderless boat on yonder lake, left to the caprice of the elements, tossed hither and thither by wind and wave, I am out in the world, a fugitive, condemned, driven, I know not whither! Oh, would that I could forecast my destiny and know it, though the worst should be revealed!" After a moment's pause he continued: "Yet, perhaps, it is better as it is: The Great Unseen will keep me if there is a purpose in my life!" Turning to Oza he said, in a subdued voice:

"There is safety in this house, the home of Euetzin, for a short time, if we might enter. Stand you here, while I endeavor to secure the attention of someone." He cautiously advanced to the door, which he found ajar, and gave two or three raps. No answer being obtained, the raps were repeated a little louder.

"Who raps?" suddenly inquired a voice from within.

"A friend of tzin Euet, who would communicate with Teochma, his mother," answered the prince, with caution.

"Stand inside, I will call her," returned the voice, and its owner, as the prince entered, went to summon his mistress.

The person who answered the prince's knock was a slave, whose sleeping-place, for convenience, was near the door.

In a few minutes the tzin's mother appeared, bearing a lighted taper. When she saw the muffled figure near the entrance, she paused and inquired:

"Who seeks to communicate with Teochma?"

"One who is a fugitive, with a price upon his life, comes to ask of Teochma shelter for a short time, until the way is made clear for him to go on," was answered.

"Prince Hualcoyotl!"

"Sh! Have a care, O Teochma; speak not that name so loud, even here, beneath this friendly roof. Walls do not always confine the voice's sound, and the winds are treacherous. Should that name be borne to traitorous ears, and my presence in your house be made known to my pursuers, desolation would surely come upon it, and distress to those it shelters."

The prince had dropped the mantle from about his face, and while he yet spoke Teochma saw that it was indeed the royal friend of her son. From custom she was about to offer him obeisance, but he quickly interposed, and said entreatingly:

"No, Teochma, do not so. Let the good mother of Euetzin treat as a servant, rather, him who stands in her presence. When the winds cease to bear upon their wings the cry of my enslaved and degraded people for deliverance, which rises hourly from a thousand homes, then, and not till then, may he to whom you would do honor receive the homage due his station!" He bowed himself before her in salutation, and continued: "Thus may it be in this hour, good mother of my friend—and mine, I could wish, O Teochma!"

"Rise, my son; it is not fit that you should humble yourself in this manner. Teochma is grateful for your condescension, and is pleased to welcome you to a shelter in her home." Hualcoyotl arose, and she continued: "But come, enter here and be seated," saying which, she motioned for him to pass to an adjoining room.

"Give me yet a moment, good Teochma. There is one without, an attendant, who waits to be called. If it please you, I will bid him come in."

"Assuredly, my son, bid him come."

The door, which the prince had closed, was quietly opened, and Oza directed to enter.

The Anahuacans of the fifteenth century were well skilled in art, both mechanical and decorative. With tools of bronze, made from an alloy of tin and copper, they were enabled, by the use of a flinty powder, to shape the hardest substances into articles of use and adornment.

Vessels of gold and silver were moulded and fashioned by them, having upon them representations of birds, animals, flowers, and other objects; and it is said of their goldsmiths that they could blend the metals in such a manner as to represent the feathers of a bird or the scales of a fish, alternately, in gold and silver.

With their natural fondness for display, and the inexhaustible supply of material for its indulgence at their command, it is not surprising that the homes of the nobility and wealthy were gorgeously magnificent in furnishment, especially in the matter of adornment. And, withal, though none of the modern appliances for the promotion of elegance and ease, which now distinguish the mansions of the opulent, were then at hand, their abodes were not without comfort for the physical man.

As in this age, a reception, or drawing-room was an indispensable apartment in the dwellings of the higher classes, and the completeness of its design and arrangement usually indicated not only the wealth and position of the owner, but, also, the taste and accomplishments of the occupants.

The room into which the prince and his attendant were conducted was a model apartment of its kind, and deserves from us at least a passing notice.

The floor was almost hidden under a profusion of mats and gaily wrought rugs. Fancy stools and comfortable divans were placed about the room in a kind of orderly disorder, relieving it from any appearance of disuse or exclusiveness. Across one corner of the room stood an especially attractive divan, over which was a glittering canopy, suspended from the beak of a dead quanhtli (eagle.) From its elevated perch the bird's appearance was so natural that the first glance at it would cause the observer to hesitate before taking a seat beneath it. A second thought, however, would dispel the momentary delusion. Spread out on this divan was the preserved and decorated skin of a Mexican tiger-cat.

The walls were adorned with gorgeous and beautiful hangings, the scintillating glimmer of the reflected light of the taper upon them, as they were gently moved by the force of a passing draught of air, producing a very agreeable effect.

In every nook and corner were to be seen vases of odorous flowers, and images of animals or birds.

On a wall-shelf, at one side of the room, was a peculiarly attractive pot of flowers, over which, suspended by a thread of gold so fine that it required a sharp eye to detect it, was poised a golden-hued hummingbird, apparently about to thrust its prying nib into the unexplored recesses of a half opened flower just below it.

In a conspicuous place on the wall was a showy piece of feather-work, in which was blended the plumage of many birds. There were in it the changeful hues of the parrot, the brilliant colors of the pheasant, and others less attractive, all woven into a perfect representation of beautiful mosaic.

As the prince took a seat his quick eye observed the exquisite surroundings; and through it all he saw Teochma's experienced hand. His mind reverted quickly to other times—his boyhood, and the home where once ruled a beloved mother, not less accomplished than Teochma. After a moment's silent contemplation of the apartment and its attractions, some of which were still familiar to him, he turned to his hostess and said:

"The span of years which separate this hour from the past, when—a joyous, happy boy—I stood within this room, with no visible cloud upon the bright horizon of my future to warn me of the approaching storm and subsequent night of sorrow and despair which has followed, seems but a delusion—a horrible dream, from which I have only this moment awakened. And yet, O Teochma, my waking may be likened to a lucid interval in the mind of one crazed by delirium or the confusion of reason; for soon the gloom of my impending doom will hold and wrap me about, and this sweet reflection of the happy past be obscured in the blackness of darkness again."

He paused, and, taking advantage of the pause, Teochma said:

"Your presence here at this hour, and the purport of your words, tell me that you are in trouble. Hualcoyotl the boy is lost in Hualcoyotl the stately prince; and our love for the former in profound esteem and respect for the latter. Teochma is your loyal subject and friend; no assistance which is within her power to render shall be withheld from you. Speak, good friend, as would my own son Euet, and make your wants known, that we may serve you."

"I was sure of your sympathy and assistance, else I had not come this way. The fidelity of Teochma, and hers, to the cause of the unfortunate Hualcoyotl is a source of deepest gratitude to him. May the hour come when he can express his gratitude more fittingly than by weak words!"

Here followed a narration of as much of his late experience as was necessary to make his situation known.

Teochma's sympathies were much excited, and the prince was assured of a welcome shelter and concealment at the villa for as long a time as he desired.

"I can only risk a stop of a few hours," said he; "just long enough for my attendant to make arrangements for me a few leagues ahead. The emissaries of Maxtla may yet consider it worth while to pay you a visit in their search for me. Should they do so, no knowledge of my having been here at this time must reach them; for they are heartless, and might cause you serious trouble, if nothing more."

He turned to Oza, and gave him the necessary instructions regarding what he was expected to do; and told him to go at once, and perform the mission quickly as possible. The man cheerfully acquiesced in his master's plans, and, after partaking of refreshments, set out on his journey.

The prince was conducted to an apartment in a retired portion of the villa, where he soon found forgetfulness in sleep.