Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-10-24

tho roadway with stones and rubbish. At
the rear of the heap thus formed I caused
q great trench to be dug, which could not
be passed by horseman and ordnance till
it was filed in again. All along the main
street leading to the great square Of the
teocalli I threw up other barricades, pro-
tected in the front and rear by dikes cut
through the roadway, and in case the Span
iards should try to turn our flank and
force passage through the narrow and
barricadcd tho four entrances to the grcat
square or market place.
Till nightfall the Spaniards bombarded
the shattered remains of the gate and the
earthworks behind them, doing no great
damage beyond the killing Of about n score
of people by cannon shot and arquebus
balls But they attempted no assault that
day. At length the darkness fell, and tho
fire ceased, but not so our labors. Most Of
the men must guard the gates and the
weak spots in the walls, and therefore the
building Of the barricades was left chiefly
to the women working under my COM
mands and that Of my captains. Otomie
herself took share in tho toll, an exam
pie that was followed by every lady and
indeed every woman in the city, and there
were many Of them, for the women out
numbered the men among the Otomie,
and, moreover, not u few Of them had been
made widows on that same day.
Itwas strange sight to see them In the
glare of hundreds of torches split from the
rosin pine that gave it's name to the city,
as all night long they moved to and fro In
oo1, ~ Gro N
weight Of basket Of earth or heavy
stone, or dug with wooden spades ut the
hard soil, or labored at the pulling down
of houses. They never complained, but
worked on sullenly and desr.c!ringly. No
groan or tear broke from them-no, not
even from those whose husbands and sons
had been hurled that morning from tho
precipices of the pass. They knew that ro-
sistance would he useless and that their
doom was at hand, but no cry arose among
them of surrender to the Spaniards. Those
of them who spoke Of the matter ut all
said, with Otomie, that 1t was better to die
free than to 1.-Two as slaves, but tho most
did not speak The old and the young,
mother, wife, widow and maid, they Ia
bored In silence, and the children lalorcd
ut their Sides
Looking ut them, it came into my mind
that these silent, patient women were In
spircd by some common and desperate pur-
posc that all knew of, but which none OF
them chose to tell.
"Will you work SO hard for your mas
tiers, the Tculcs:" cried man in bitter
mockery as fle Of them toilcd past be-
Meath their loads of stone.
Fool" answered their leader o young
and lovely lady of rank. do the daM Ia
bor?"
Nay" said this Ill Jester, "but such as
you arc too fair for tho Teules to kill. and
your years of slavery will DO many. Say,
how shall you escape them"
"Fool!" answered the lady again, docs
fire die from lack OF fuel only, and must
every man live till age takes himi We
shall escape them thus, and casting down
the torch she carried she trod 1t into the
earth with her sandal aud went on with
her load. Then WINS suro that they had
some purpose, though did not guess how
desperate it was, and Otomie would toll
me nothing Of this womans secret
"Otomie, " said to her that night when
we met by chance, II have Ill news for
you"
1T must be bad indeed, husband, to be
named in such an hour, she answered
"Dc Garcia is among our foes. !"
Il knew it, husband. "
"How did you know it9"
"By the hate written in your eyes, she
answered.
''It seems that his hour Of triumph is ut
hand" said.
Nay, beloved, not his but yours. You
shall triumph over De Garcia, but victory
will cost you dear. know it in my heart.
Ask me not how or why. See, the queen
puts on her CROWN" and she pointed to
the volcan Xaca, whose SHOWS grew rosy
with the dawn, land you must go to the
gate, for the Spaniards will soon be stir
ring"
AS Otomie spoke I heard trumpet
blare without the walls. Hurrying to the
gates by the first light of day, could see
that the Spaniards were mastering their
forces for attack. They did not come at
once, however, but delayed till the san
was we'll up. Then they began to hr
furious fire upon our defenses that reduced
the shattered beams of the gates to pow
der and even shook down the crest Of the
earthwork beyond them. Suddenly the
firing ceased and again trumpet called
Now they charged us in column, thou
sand or more Tlascalans leading the van,
followed by the Spanish force. In two
minutes I, who waited them beyond 1t,
together with some 800 warriors Of the
Otomie, saw their heads appear over the
crest Of the earthwork, and the fight be-
gan. Thrice we drove them back with our
spears and our arrows, but at the fourth
charge the wave Of men swept over our de-
tense and poured into the dry ditch beyond.
Now we were forced to fly to tbs hert
earthwork, for we could not hope to light
SO many in the open street, whittier, so
soon as passage had been made for their
horses and ordnance, the enemy followed
US. Here the fight was renewed, and this
barricade being very strong we held 1t for
hard upon two hours, with much loss to
ourselves and to the Spanish force. Again
we retreated, and again we were assalled.
and so the struggle went on throughout
the livelong day. Every hour our numbers
grew fewer and fewer and our arus faint
or, but still we fought on desperately. At
the last two barricades hundreds Of the
women Of the Otomie fought by the sides
Of their husbands and their brothers.
The last earthwork was captured By the
Spaniards just as the sun sank, and under
the shadow Of approaching darkness those
of us that remained alive fled to the rofuge
which we had prepared under the teocalu,
nor was there any further fighting during
that night
CHAPTER XXXII.
TIE LAST SACRIFICE OF THE wOARg OF TEE
OTOMIE.
Hero in the courtyard Of the teocalli, by
the light Of burning houses, for as they
advanced the Spanish fred the town, we
mustered our array to find that there were
left to us in all some 400 fighting men, to-
gether with crowd OF nearly 5000 wom-
en- and many children. Now, although
this teocani was not quite SO lofty as that
Of tho great temple Of Mexico, Its sides are
sleeper and everywhere faced with dressed
stone, and the open face upon Its summit