The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-09-26

this horror.
.'Is this time for gentleness?" he an
swered fercely. II cannot save them from
the altar, and I would not if could. Let
the dogs die according to the custom of the
land, and to you, Teule, my brother, l
say presume not too far"
Alas, the heart of Guatemoc grew ever
fercer as the struggle wore on, and indeed
it was little to be wondered at.
This was the dreadful plan OF Cortes-
to destroy the city piecemeal as he ad-
yanced toward its heart-and it was car
ried out without mercy. So soon as the
Spaniards got footing in a quarter, thou
sands of the Tlascalans were set to work to
fire the houses and burn all in them alive.
Before the siege was done Tenoctitlan,
queen of the valley, was but heap OF
blackened ruins. Cortes might have cried
over Mexico with Isaiah the prophet:
'eThy pomp is brought down to the grave,
and the noise of thy viols; the worm is
spread under thee, and the worms cover
thee. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning, how art
thou cut down to the ground which didst
weaken the nationsr'
In all these fights I took my part,
though it does not become me to boast my
prowess. Still the Spaniards knew me
well, and they had good reason.
How shall paint the horrors that day
by day were heaped upon the doomed city?
Soon all the food was gone, and men-aye,
and worse still, tender women and chill
dren-must eat such meat as swine would
have turned from, striving to keep life in
them for little longer. Grass, the bark
of trees, slugs and insects, washed down
with brackish water from the lake, these
were their best food, these and the flesh OF
captives offered in sacrifice. Now they oe-
gan to die by hundreds and thousands;
they died so fast that they could not bury
them. Where they perished, there they
lay till at length their bodies bred a
plague, black and horrible fever, that
swept off thousands more, who, In turn,
became the root of pestilence. For one
who was killed by the Spaniards and their
allies, two were swept off by hunger and
plague. Think then what was the number
of dead when not less than 20, 600 perished
beneath the sword and by fire alone. In
deed it was said that 40, ZOO died in this
manner in single day-the day before the
last Of the siege.
One night came back to the lodging
where Otomie dwelt with her royal sister,
Tecuicho, the wife Of Guatemoc, for nc-v
all the palaces had been burned down. I
was starving, for had scarcely tasted
food for 40 hours, but all that my VII
could set before me were three meal cakes,
or tortillas, mixed with bark. She kissed
me and bade me eat them, but discoS'-
cred that she herself had touched no food
that day, so would not till she shared
them Then noted that she could scarce
" swallow the bitter morsels, and also
that she strove to hide tears, which ran
down her face.
''What is it, wife?" asked.
Then Otomie broke out into a great and
bitter crying and said:
''This, my beloved. For two days the
milk has been dry in my breast-hunger
has dried it-and our babe is dead! Look,
he lies dead" and she drew aside cloth
and showed me the tiny body.
sHush,'' said, The is spared much!
Can we then desire that e child should
live to see such days as we have seen, and,
after all, to die atlast?''
ssHe was our son-our frstborn," she
cried again. "Oh, why must we suffer
thus?'
1--WE must suffer, Otomie, because we
are born to it. Just so much happiness is
given to US as shall save us from madness
and no more. Ask me not why, for can
not answer you. There is no answer in
my faith or in any other"
And then, looking on that dead babe, I
wept also. Every hour in those terrible
months it was my lot to see thousand
sights more awful, and yet this sight Of q
dead infant moved me the most of all OF
them The child was mine, my frstborn;
its mother wept beside me, and its stiff
and tiny fingers seemed to drag at my
heartstrings- Seek not the cause, for the
Almighty, who gave the heart its infinite
power Of pain, alone can answer, and to
our ears he is dumb.
Then took mattock and dug hole
outside the house till came to water,
which, In Tenoctitlan, is found at q depth
of two feet or so, and, having muttered a
prayer over him, there in the water I laid
the body of our child, burying it out Of
sight st the least he was not left for the
zapilotes, as the Aztecs call the vultures,
like the rest of them.
After that we wept ourselves to sleep in
each others arms, Otomie murmuring
~