The Fair God; or, The Last of the 'Tzins: A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico

nk from his people, wild with the promise of pomp and combat, would not be shut out by gates and guards; it clung to his memory, and with him stood by the fountain, walked in the

de him get ready his canoe: from Chapultepec, the pal

t other than of the stars shone in the east. The gurgling sound of waters parted by the rushing vessel, and

int of the hill there was a tower from which the kings were accustomed to observe the stars. Thither Montezuma went. Maxtla, who alone da

loved the stars for their sublime mystery, and had faith in them as oracles. He consulted them always; his armies marched at their bidding; and they and the gods controlled every movement of his civil polity. But as he had never before been moved by so great a trouble, and as the knowledge he now sought directly con

t spears, shot up and athwart the sky. As the indications multiplied, his hopes arose. Farther back he threw the hood from

kes, with their blue waters, their shores set with cities, villages and gardens; beyond them lay eastern Anahuac, the princeliest jewel of the Empire. What with its harvests, its orchards, and its homeste

into "The White Woman"[25] and "The Smoking Hill."[26] Mythology had covered them with sanctifying

rushed upward from the mountain, and commenced gathering darkly about its white summit. Quick to behold it, he scarcely hushed a cry of fear, and instinctively waved his hand, as if, by a kingly gesture, to stay the eruption. Slowly the vapor crept over the ros

at this was a message sent him expressly from the gods was but a right royal vanity. He drew the hood over his face again, and drooped his head disconsolately upon his breast. His mind filled with a host of gloomy thoughts. The

cending from the roof, and shuddered at the sight of city, lake, valley, t

"to-day we will sacrifice to Quetzal': how

ty humbled by fear. Then Montezuma shaded his face again, and left the proud ol