Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-10-31

IN
and from whose lips swelled the awful
chant.
Now understood it all. In their last
despair, naddeued by the loss Of fathers,
husbands and children, by their cruel fate,
and standing face to face with certain
death, tho fire Of the old faith had burned
I'D in their savage hearts. There was the
temple, there were the stone and imple-
ments Of sacrifice and there to their hands
were the victims taken In war. They
would glu5 last revenge, they would sac
rifice to their fathers gods as their fathers
had. done before them, and the victims
should be taken from their own victorious
foes. Aye, they must die, but at the least
they must seek the mansions of the sun
made holy by the blood Of the acoursed
Teule.
have said that it was the women who
sang this chant and glared so fercely upon
the victims but I have not yet told all the
horror Of what saw, for in the forefront
| Of their circle, clad In white robes, the
| neoklet Of great emeralds, Guatemoc's s gift,
flashing upon her breast, the plumes of
royal green set In her hair, giving the time
of the death chant with little wand,
stood Montezuma's daughter, Otomie, my
wife. Never before had seen her look SO
beautiful or so dreadful 1t was not Oto-
mie whom saw, for wherew was the tender
smile and where the gentle eyesF Here be-
| fore me was living vengeance wearing
the shape Of woman.
In an instant I guessed the truth, though
| I did not know it oil. Otomie, although
she was not Of 1t, had ever favored the
| Christian faith Otomie, who for years
! had never spoken Of these dreadful rites
except with anger, whose every act was
/ love, and whose every word was kindness,
was still In her soul an idolator and saw
age. She. had hidden this side Of her heart
from me well through all these years; per-
chance she herself had scarcely known It's
| secret, for but twice had seen anything
of the buried flerceness Of her blood. The
first time was when Marina had brought
! her certain robe In which she might es-
cape from the camp Of Cortes, and she had
spoken to Marina of that robe, and the
second when on the same day she had
played her part to the Tlascalan and had
struck him down with her own hand as he
! bent over me.
All this and much more passed through
my mind in that brief moment, while
Otomie marked the time of the death
chant and tho pabas dragged the Tlasca-
Ian to his doom.
The next was at her side.
'What passes here?" asked sternly.
Otomie looked on me with cold Won
der and with empty eyes, as though she
did not know me.
go back, white man." she answered.
'sIt is not lawful for strangers to mingle
in our rites"
I stood bewildered, not knowing what
to do, while the fame burned and the
chant went up before the efhgy Of Huitzel,
of the demon Huitzel awakened after many
years Of sleep.
Again and yet again the solemn chant
arose, Otomie beating time with her little
rod of ebony, and again, yet again, the cry
Of triumph rose to the silent stars.
Now awoke from my dream, for as an
evil dream it seemed to me, and drawing
my sword rushed toward the priest at
the altar to cut him down. But though
the men stood still the women were too
quick for me. Before I could lift the
sword, before could even speak word,
they had sprung upon me, like the jaguars
of their own forests, and, like jaguars,
they hissed and growled into my ear:
s'Get you gone, Teule," they said, "lest
we stretch you on the stone with your
brethren And still Kissing they pushed
me thence.
drew back and thought for awhile in
the shadow of the temple. My eye fell
upon the long line of victims awaiting
| their turn of sacrifice. They were thirty
and one of them still alive, and of these
five were Spaniards. I noted that the
| Spaniards were chained the last Of all the
line. 1t seemed that the murderers would
keep them till the end Of the feast; indeed
I discovered that they were to be offered
up at the rising Of the sun. How could
save them, I wondered. Ny power was
gone The women could not be moved
from their work Of vengeance. They were
mad with their suierings. AS we'll might
q man try to snatch her prey from puma
robbed Of her whelps as to turn them
from their purpose. With the men 1t was
otherwise, however. Some Of them min
gled In the orgie indeed, but more stood
aloof watching with a fearful joy the spec
tscle in which they did not share. Near
me was man, noble Of the Otomie, OF
something more than my own age. He
had always been my friend, and after me
he commanded the warriors of the tribe.
I went to him and said, Friend, for the
sake OF tho honor Of your people, help me
to end this"
IT cannot, Teule," he answered, land
beware how you meddle in the play, fol
/ none Will stand by you Now the women
have power, and you SEQ they use 1t. They
are about to die, but before they die they
! will do as their fathers did, for their strait
Is sore, and though they have been put
aside the old customs are not forgotten. I"
Sat the least, can we not save these
Teules'" I answered.
"Why should you wish to save the
Teuless Will they save us some few days
hence, when we are In their powerP"
perhaps not" said, "but If we must
die let us die clean from this shame.
What, then, do you wish me to do,
Teulep"
This: Iwould have you fnd some three
or four men who are not fallen into this
! madness, and with them aid me to loose
the Teules, for we cannot save the others.
II this may be done, surely we can lower
them with ropes from that point where the
} read is broken away down to the path be-
meath, and thus they may escape to their
own people"
IT will try" he answered, Struggling
his shoulders, mot from any tenderness
toward the accursed Teules, whom could
well bear to soc stretched upon the stone,
but because it is your wish, and for the
} sake of the friendship between u.s."
Then he went, and presently saw sew
eral mon pluce themselves, as though by
chance, between tho spot where the last OF
the line of Indian prisoners and the first
of the Spaniards were made fast In such
fashion as to hide them from the sight OF
the maddened women engrossed as they
were in their orgies.
Now crept up to the Spaniards. They
were squatted upon the ground, bound by
their hands and feet to the copper rings in
the pavement. There they sat silently
awaiting tho dreadful doom, their faces
gray with terror, and their eyes starting
from their sockets.
Hist" whispered in Spanish into the
ear Of the first, an old man whom knew
as one who had taken part In the war OF
| {. hn covai ob