The girl looked at Tula, then at him; then she raised the vase, and, laughing, hid her face in the flowers.
But little more was said; and soon the lashings were cast off, and the vessels separated.
On the return Hualpa stopped at Tenochtitlan, and in the shade of the portico, over a cup of the new beverage, now all the fashion, received from Xoli the particulars of the contemplated attack upon the strangers in Cholula; for, with his usual diligence in the fields of gossip, the broker had early informed himself of all that was to be heard of the affair. And that night, while Io’ dreamed of war, and the hunter of love, the ’tzin paced his study or wandered through his gardens, feverishly solicitous about the result of the expedition.
“If it fail,” he repeated over and over,—“if it fail, Malinche will enter Tenochtitlan as a god!”
CHAPTER IV
THE KING DEMANDS A SIGN OF MUALOX
Next morning Mualox ascended the tower of his old Cû. The hour was so early that the stars were still shining in the east. He fed the fire in the great urn until it burst into cheery flame; then, spreading his mantle on the roof, he laid down to woo back the slumber from which he had been taken. By and by, a man, armed with a javelin, and clad in cotton mail, came up the steps, and spoke to the paba.
“Does the servant of his god sleep this morning?”
Mualox arose, and kissed the pavement.
“Montezuma is welcome. The blessing of the gods upon him!”