Transcriber’s Note

All footnotes have been numbered consecutively for uniqueness, and gathered at the end of this text. Please consult the [notes] at the end of this text for details about the resolution of any issues.

OVER THE BRIDGES, THE HORSEMEN GALLOPED

THE FAIR GOD
OR, THE LAST OF THE ’TZINS

A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico
BY
LEW WALLACE

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ERIC PAPE

From Mexico ... a civilization that might have instructed Europe was crushed out.... It has been her [Spain’s] evil destiny to ruin two civilizations, Oriental and Occidental, and to be ruined thereby herself.... In America she destroyed races more civilized than herself.—Draper, Intellectual Development of Europe.

NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1873 BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.
COPYRIGHT 1898 BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN & CO.
COPYRIGHT 1901 BY LEW WALLACE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.

A personal experience, though ever so plainly told, is, generally speaking, more attractive to listeners and readers than fiction. A circumstance from the tongue or pen of one to whom it actually happened, or who was its hero or victim, or even its spectator, is always more interesting than if given second-hand. If the makers of history, contradistinguished from its writers, could teach it to us directly, one telling would suffice to secure our lasting remembrance. The reason is, that the narrative so proceeding derives a personality and reality not otherwise attainable, which assist in making way to our imagination and the sources of our sympathy.

With this theory or bit of philosophy in mind, when the annexed book was resolved upon, I judged best to assume the character of a translator, which would enable me to write in the style and spirit of one who not merely lived at the time of the occurrences woven in the text, but was acquainted with many of the historical personages who figure therein, and was a native of the beautiful valley in which the story is located. Thinking to make the descriptions yet more real, and therefore more impressive, I took the liberty of attributing the composition to a literator who, whatever may be thought of his works, was not himself a fiction. Without meaning to insinuate that The Fair God would have been the worse for creation by Don Fernando de Alva, the Tezcucan, I wish merely to say that it is not a translation. Having been so written, however, now that publication is at hand, change is impossible; hence, nothing is omitted,—title-page, introductory, and conclusion are given to the reader exactly as they were brought to the publisher by the author.

L.W.

Boston Mass. August 8, 1873.

CONTENTS.

BOOK ONE.
ChapterPage
I.Our Mother has a Fortune waiting us Yonder[1]
II.Quetzal’, the Fair God[7]
III.A Challenge[13]
IV.Tenochtitlan at Night[16]
V.The Child of the Temple[20]
VI.The Cû of Quetzal’, and Mualox, the Paba[25]
VII.The Prophecy on the Wall[30]
VIII.A Business Man in Tenochtitlan[39]
IX.The Questioner of the Morning[46]
X.Going to the Combat[50]
XI.The Combat[59]
XII.Mualox, and his World[68]
XIII.The Search for Quetzal’[74]
BOOK TWO.
I.Who are the Strangers?[83]
IIA Tezcucan Lover[89]
III.The Banishment of Guatamozin[95]
IV.Guatamozin at Home[103]
V.Night at the Chalcan’s[112]
VI.The Chinampa[120]
VII.Court Gossip[126]
VIII.Guatamozin and Mualox[130]
IX.A King’s Banquet[135]
X.The ’Tzin’s Love[141]
XI.The Chant[150]
BOOK THREE.
I.The First Combat[162]
II.The Second Combat[169]
III.The Portrait[180]
IV.The Trial[183]
BOOK FOUR.
I.The King gives a Trust to Hualpa[192]
II.The King and the ’Tzin[198]
III.Love on the Lake[207]
IV.The King demands a Sign of Mualox[214]
V.The Massacre in Cholula[220]
VI.The Conqueror will come[230]
VII.Montezuma goes to meet Cortez[239]
VIII.The Entry[246]
BOOK FIVE.
I.Public Opinion[257]
II.A Message from the Gods[261]
III.How Ills of State become Ills of Society[267]
IV.Ennuyé in the Old Palace[275]
V.Alvarado finds the Light of the World[282]
VI.The Iron Cross[291]
VII.The Christians in the Toils[299]
VIII.The Iron Cross comes back to its Giver[306]
IX.Truly Wonderful—A Fortunate Man hath a Memory[315]
X.How the Iron Cross came back[317]
XI.The Christian takes care of his own[325]
BOOK SIX.
I.The Lord Hualpa flees his Fortune[339]
II.Whom the Gods destroy they first make mad[347]
III.The Public Opinion makes Way[357]
IV.The ’Tzin’s Farewell to Quetzal’[364]
V.The Cells of Quetzal’ again[374]
VI.Lost in the Old Cû[379]
VII.How the Holy Mother helps her Children[385]
VIII.The Paba’s Angel[392]
IX.Life in the Paba’s World[404]
X.The Angel becomes a Beadswoman[410]
XI.The Public Opinion proclaims itself—Battle[427]
BOOK SEVEN.
I.The Heart can be wiser than the Head[438]
II.The Conqueror on the Causeway again[449]
III.La Viruela[454]
IV.Montezuma a Prophet.—His Prophecy[455]
V.How to yield a Crown[462]
VI.In the Leaguer[465]
VII.In the Leaguer yet[473]
VIII.The Battle of the Mantas[481]
IX.Over the Wall,—Into the Palace[489]
X.The Way through the Wall[499]
XI.Battle in the Air[510]
XII.In the Interval of the Battle—Love[524]
XIII.The Beginning of the End[527]
XIV.The King before his People again[532]
XV.The Death of Montezuma[544]
XVI.Adieu to the Palace[550]
XVII.The Pursuit begins[559]
XVIII.La Noche Triste[562]