“To the temple! To the temple! For the love of Christ, to the temple!”
The cry sped down the column; and as the men caught its meaning they faced about of their own will. Wounds, weariness, and disappointments were forgotten; the rudest soldier became a zealot on the instant. Al templo! Adelante, adelante! rose like a new chorus, piercing the battle’s monotone.
Cortes stood in his stirrups, and lo! the enemy, ranked close, like corn in the full ear, yet outreaching his vision,—plumed, bannered, brilliant, and terrible.
“Close and steady, swords of the Church! What ye see is but grass for the cutting. Yonder is the temple we seek. Follow me. Adelante! Christo y Santiago!”
So saying, he spurred in deep amongst the infidels.
CHAPTER IX.
OVER THE WALL,—INTO THE PALACE.
The duty Hualpa had been charged with by the ’tzin was not difficult of performance; for the bridges of the capital, even those along the beautiful street, were much simpler structures than they appeared. When he had seen the balustrades and flooring and the great timbers that spanned the canal—the first one south of the old palace—torn from their places, and hauled off by the canoemen whom he had collected for the purpose, he returned to the temple to rejoin his master.
The assault upon the palace, when he reached that point, was more furious than at any previous time. The companies in the street were fighting with marvellous courage, while the missiles from the azoteas and westward terraces of the temple, and all the houses around, literally darkened the air. Amidst the clamor Hualpa caught at intervals the cry,—“The ’tzin, the ’tzin!” He listened, and all the loyal thousands seemed shouting, “The ’tzin, the ’tzin! Al-a-lala!”
“Has anything befallen the ’tzin?” he asked of an acquaintance.