“Have you not there two scarfs,—the one green, the other white?”
“Yes.”
“Take them with you, and from the roof, if your father resolve not, show the green one. Alas, then, for me! If, in its stead, you wave the white one, I shall know that he comes, if so he does, by force, and that”—his voice trembled—”it is his will Anahuac should live.”
She listened wistfully, and replied, “I understand; Anahuac saved means Montezuma lost. But doubt him not, doubt him not; he will remember his glory’s day, and die as he has lived.”
An hour later, and the canoe of the ’tzin passed into one of the canals of the city. The parting on the chinampa may be imagined. Love will have its way even in war.
CHAPTER II
THE CONQUEROR ON THE CAUSEWAY AGAIN
As predicted by the ’tzin, the Spaniards set out early next morning—the morning of the 24th of June—by the causeway from Iztapalapan, already notable in this story.
At their head rode the Señor Hernan, silent, thoughtful, and not well pleased; pondering, doubtless, the misconduct of the adelantado in the old palace to which he was marching, and the rueful condition it might impose upon the expedition.