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

essions. Jugglers performed on the street-corners; dancing-girls, with tambours, and long elf-locks dressed in flowers, pos

the smoke of the volcano still lingered; but the sun ro

were deserted; hovels and palaces gave up their tenantry; canoes, gay with garlands, were abandoned in the waveless canals. The women and children came down from the roofs; from all the temples-all but the old one with the solitary gray tower and echoless court-poured the priesthood in proc

with other nobles from the provinces far and near, were collected about it in waiting, sporting on their persons the wealth of principalities. When the monarch came out, they knelt, and every one of them placed h

s," he said, afte

and passed from hand to hand. Intent on deciphering the writing, no

y lord Cacama?" asked

s dropped as

paint an eagle; When we write of t

Cuitlahua, "would the

the other strangely, saying only, "

he company, in procession, set out for the tianguez. On the way they were joined by Iztlil', th

astime found Xoli and his provincial friend lounging along the broad pave of the beautiful thoroughfare. They at once started for the tianguez. The broker was fat, and it was troublesome for him to keep pace with the hunter; nevertheless, they ove

not the green panache?" whi

bent his head, and his heart closed upon the recollection of what he saw so that it never escaped. The picture was of a girl, almost a woman, laughing; opposite her, and rather in the shade of the fringed curtain, one older, though young, an

listen. Green is the royal color, and belongs to the king's family; and wherever met, in the city or on the lake, the people salute it. Though what they me

id the hunter, as to himsel

ng the patrol upon us? They are not for such as you. Come on. It

rdly control. In the midst of it, Xoli pulled his companion to one side,

the shields of the combatants; and when the Tihuancan heard the people, as they strea

reen humming-birds brilliantly iridescent; a rope of pearls large as grapes hung, many times doubled, from his neck down over his breast; his sandals and sandal-thongs were embossed with gold, and besides anklets of massive gold, cuishes of the same metal guarded his legs from knee to anklet. Save the

look at the gages, "your brother has a mi

the javelin in his hand, and bow, quiver, and maquahuitl at his back; and in h

g, smiling. "But, son of my fr

e also. Over their heads he extended his hands, and said, softly, "They who love the god

one gage was forgotten, one combatan

ld is that,

on the plain gage,

e holy cause of Quetzal'? Go,

tspake

llenged me to this combat, and he is not here.

lushed as from a passing pain; a moment he regarded the Tezcuca

hard," he said, quietly. "But such victims are

om the lake, and large enough for man?uvring half a thousand men. It was bounded by a rope, outside of which was a broad margin crowded with rank on rank of common soldiery, whose shields were arranged be

t he can do this thing in a

you see were wrought long ago, and have been lying in the templ

he commonalty; it was also the highest of the platforms, so that its occupants could overlook the whole amphitheatre. This lordlier preparation belonged to the king, his household and nobles

er of them in sanctity of character, sat aloof in the west, also screened by a canopy. And, as the celebration was regarded in the light of a religious

n been better filled with all that constitutes royalty. Opposite him he saw the servitors of his religion; at his feet were his warriors and peopl

air was filled with plaudits and flying garlands; but hardly was the welcome ended before there was a g

che, asked you? That is Iztli

not too

ds the glitter has made him

ghed heartily a

ed fellow now fixing th

e with the will a girl goes to a feast. The other is th

lpa. "I have heard it said that, in a battle of

scorn the other nations, even the Aztecs. Probably it is well they are be

the people talking about

in leather without ornament; his escaupil was secured by a simple loop: yet the people knew him, and shouted; and when he took down the plain shield and fixed it to his ar

at the palace door; and some there were, acuter than the rest, who saw corroboration of the meaning given the writing in the fact that the shield the '

to common challengers of the proudest chiefs o

gladiators never exhibited before a Roman audience. The father was past the prime of life, but erect, broad-shouldered, and of unusual dignity; the son was slighter, and not so tall, but his limbs were round and beautiful, and he looked as if he mig

s ear that his heart is so melted? Awak

amer's arm." And with the words, he seized a bow at his feet, fitted an arrow upon the cord, and, drawing full to the head, sent it cleaving the sunshi

no time for the indulgence of affection, he turned to t

lted escaupil; each buckled the shield on his arm, and ti

f the vast audience was without comparison. With the exception of the arena, the royal platform was the cynosure. Behind the king, with a shield faced with silver, stood Maxtla, vigilant against treachery or despair. The array of nobles about the couch was imperial; and what with them, and the dark-eyed beauties of his household, and the canopy tingeing t