Io’ knelt again, saying, “I have a pardon to ask—”
“A pardon! For wishing to be a warrior?”
“If the king will hear me,—I have heard you say that in your youth you divided your days between the camp and the temples, learning at the same time the duties of the priest and the warrior. That I may be able some day to serve you, O king, I have stolen away from Tenochtitlan—”
Montezuma laid his hand tenderly on the boy’s head, and said, “No more. I know all you would say, and will ask the great Huitzil’ to give you strength and courage. Take my permission to be a warrior. Arise, now, and give me the bow. It is long since I pulled the cord, and my hand may have weakened, and my eyes become dim; but I challenge you both! I have a shield wrought of pearl and gold, unfit for the field, yet beautiful as a prize of skill. Who plants an arrow nearest yon target’s heart, his the shield shall be.”
The challenge was accepted, and after preparation, the monarch dropped his mantle, and took the stand. He drew the shaft to his ear with a careless show of skill; and when it quivered in the target about a palm’s breadth below the mark, he said, laughing, “I am at least within the line of the good bowman. A Tlascalan would not have escaped scarless.”
Io’ next took the bow, and was so fortunate as to hit the lower edge of the heart squarely above the king’s bolt.
“Mine is the shield, mine is the shield!” he cried, exultantly. “O that a minstrel were here! I would have a song,—my first song!”
“Very proud!” said the king, good-humoredly. “Know you, boy, the warrior counts his captives only when the battle is ended. Here, lord Hualpa, the boaster should be beaten. Prove your quality. To you there may be more in this trial than a song or a golden shield.”
The hunter took the vacant place; his arrow whistled away, and the report came back from the target. By a happy accident, if such it were, the copper point was planted exactly in the middle of the space between the other two.
More joyous than before arose the cry of Io’, “I have beaten a king and a warrior! Mine is the shield, mine is the shield!”