The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1895-01-02

SUOOu UclOEo UlcHl SUdUoly anu SCOfulul, d
very queen among women, and little by
little the majesty Of her presence and the
greatness of her courage hushed them to
silence. When there was quiet at length,
she spoke in clear voice that carried far.
Am l among my own people of the
Otomie," she asked bitterly, ''or have we
lost our path and wandered perchance
among some savage Tlascalan tribe? Lis
ten, people of the Otomie. have but one
voice, and none can reason with q multi
tude. Choose you tongue to speak for
you and let him set out the desire of your
hearts,
Now the tumuyt began again, for some
shouted one name and some another, but
in the end priest and noble named Max
tia stepped forward, man of great power
among the Otomie, who, above all, had ia
vored an alliance with the Spaniards and
opposed the sending of an army to aid
Guatemoc in the defense of Tenoctitlan.
Nor did he come alone, for with him were
four chiefs, whom by their dress I knew to
be Tlascalans and ENJOYS from Cortes.
Then my heart sank, for it was not diff
cult to guess the object Of their coming.
''Speak on, Maxtla, said Otomie, for
we must hear whg = there ie Tor us to an
swer, and you, people OF the Otomie, L
pray you keep silence, that you may judge
between us when there is an end of talk
ing
Now great silence fell upon the multi
tude, who pressed together like sheep in
pen and strained their ears to catch the
words of Maytla.
"My speech with you, princess, and the
Teule, your outlawed husband, shall be
short and sharp" he began roughly. "A
while hence you came hither to seek an
army to aid Cuitlahua, emperor Of the AZ
tees, in his struggle with the Teules, the
sons of Quetzal. That army was given
you against the wishes of many Of us, for
you won over the council by the honey of
your words, and we who urged caution or
even an alliance with the white men, the
children of God, were Overruled. You went
hence, and 90, 900 men, the flower OF our
people, followed you to Tenoctitlan. Where
are they now? [ will tell you. Some
900 of them have crept back home, the rest
fly to and fro through the air III the giz-
yards Of the ZaphilOteS or crouch on the
earth in the bellies of jackals Death has
them all, and you led them to their deaths
Is it, then, much that we should seek the
lives of you two in payment for those 90
900 of our sons, our husbands and our IA
theirs? But we do even ask this. Here be-
side me stand ambassadors from Malinche,
the captain of the Teules, who reached our
city but an hour ago. This is the demand
that they bring from Malinche, and in his
own words:
Deliver back to me Otomie, the
daughter of Montezuma, and the renegade
of her paramount, who is known as Teule,
and who has fled from the justice due to
his crimes, and it shall be we'll with you,
people of the Otomie. Hide them or refuse
to deliver them, and the fate Of the City Of
Pines shall be as the fate of Tcnoctitlan,
queen of the valley. Choose, then, between
my love and my wrath, people Of the Otto
ME. If you obey, the past shall be forgiven,
and my yoke will be light upon you. If
you refuse, your city shall be stamped flat
and your very name wiped out OF the rec
ords of the world.
"Say, messengers of the Malinche, are
not these the words of Malinche?"
''They are his very words, Maxtla," said
the spokesman of the embassy.
Now again there was a tumult among
the people, and voices cried, give them
up; give them to Malinch0 as a peace offer
ing" Otomie stood forward to speak, and
it died away, for all desired to hear her
words. Then she spoke:
1T seems, people of the Otomie, that
am on trial before my own vassals, and
my husband with me- Well, [ will plead
our cause as well as a woman may, and
having the power you shall judge between
us and Maxtla and his allies, Malinche and
the Tlascalans What is our Offense? 1t
is that we came hither by the command of