Alvarado

“ Holy Mother of heaven! grace upon all, and Amen! if thou beest a living creature, speak,—or I will smite thee for a devil!"
These words came from the lips of Alvarado, who had himself commanded the body of hangmen, and who now, though his teeth chattered with terror, advanced his rapier towards the bosom of his late companion. As he gazed and menaced, Don Amador, yielding, at last, to the consequences of labours altogether above his enfeebled powers, sunk swooning to the earth; and Jacinto, rushing from the crowd, flung himself upon his body. ”

“ Oñate having witnessed the rout of the Spanish forces from his position, hastened to his relief; but the flight of Alvarado's party was so rapid that it was impossible to overtake them. At Yahualica, too late, he came up with stragglers from whom he learned the particulars of Alvarado's fate.
At nightfall the lieutenant-governor arrived at Atenguillo, and the meeting of the commanders was touching in the extreme. "He who will not listen to good counsel must be content to suffer," said Alvarado. ”

“ And the poor wretch had appealed to his superior with a mixture of pitifulness and indignation.
"Ah, Captain! save me from this dismal fate. You should, in very justice you should, for you contented not yourself with stealing skin and bone done up in feathers. And yet you came off with no punishment at all."
"Thou impudent fellow!" exclaimed Alvarado. "Callest thou a furious rebuke before the whole force, and accompanied with threats too, nothing? Thinkest thou that thy beggarly life is worth a Spanish noble's honour?" ”

“ Estenega, who had been star-gazing, turned to Alvarado, ignoring the Junta. His keen brilliant eyes gave the Governor a thrill of relief; his mouth expressed a mind made up and intolerant of argument.
"Vallejo," he said, "is like a horse that will neither run nor back into his stall: he merely stands still and kicks. His kicking makes a noise and raises a dust, but does no harm. In other words, he will irritate, but never take a responsibility. ”

“ Would you awaken the cavalier in the next room?"
"And who is he?" cried the other furiously; "this cavalier, of whom you have spoken thrice, who is he? But it matters not: let him keep his ears to himself, if he is given to lie awake. Listeners seldom hear aught that is pleasant for themselves. Said you an officer of Wellington's army? He, too, shall die, if he ventures to cross my path this night!"
"Carlos! Madman! Let me beseech you not to raise your voice thus!" intreated Alvarado in a whisper.
But Stuart had heard more than enough to whet his curiosity. ”

“ I thought as I was stricken down there would be no need for you to——"
"Thou hast earned life, Alvarado, not death, and thou shalt have it."
"Señors," said Alvarado, whose faintness was passing from him, "I broke my plighted word to the Viceroy and Don Felipe de Tobar. I love this lady and was false to my charge. Don Alvaro promised me death for punishment, and I crave it. I care not for life without——"
"And did he tell thee why he broke his word?" asked Mercedes, taking his hands in her own and looking up at her father. "It was my fault. I made him. ”

“ Blithe were the revels that now rang through the ancient city of Pachacamac; where, instead of songs, and of the sacrifices so often seen there in honor of the Indian deity, the walls echoed to the noise of tourneys and Moorish tilts of reeds, with which the martial adventurers loved to recall the sports of their native land. When these were concluded, Alvarado reembarked for his government of Guatemala, where his restless spirit soon involved him in other enterprises that cut short his adventurous career. His expedition to Peru was eminently characteristic of the man. ”

“ After his brother's departure, Diego had attached himself to the fortunes of Almagro, had accompanied him to Chili, and, as he was a cavalier of birth, and possessed of some truly noble qualities, he had gained deserved ascendency over his commander. Alvarado had frequently visited Hernando Pizarro in his confinement, where, to beguile the tediousness of captivity, he amused himself with gaming,—the passion of the Spaniard. They played deep, and Alvarado lost the enormous sum of eighty thousand gold castellanos. ”

“ He pushed the first aside, read the superscription of the second with a laugh, and casting his eye upon the third, devoured its contents with an avidity that left him unconscious of the murmurs of the fierce cavaliers, and the groans of the wretched Alguazil, strangling under his foot.
"What, señor! will you rob the gallows of its prey?" cried Alvarado, pointing his sword at the prostrate traitor, as, indeed, did all the rest, (having drawn them at the moment when Cortes seized him by the throat:) "His crime is manifest to all: what need of trial? Every man his steel through the dog!" ”

“ Discontented with himself, disgusted with his officer, and embarrassed by the disastrous consequences in which Alvarado's intemperance had involved him, he became irritable, and indulged in a petulance by no means common; for, though a man of lively passions by nature, he held them habitually under control.
On the day that Cortés arrived, Montezuma had left his own quarters to welcome him. ”

“ A loud shout, mingled with laughs of fierce derision, testified the triumph of the barbarians; and Cortes, stung with fury, though hesitating to attack, called for his musketeers, to break the line of opponents.
"Our musketeers are in heaven! carried up in the fiend of a burro!" cried Alvarado, waving his sword, and eyeing the vaunting herd. "Before the days of saltpetre, true men were wont to shoot their foes without it.—All that is to be done, is to conceive we are hunting foxes, and leaping over a farmer's wall. ”

“ The charge of the returning cavaliers created a temporary check, and a feeble rally was made, but the flood of foes soon came on again and drove them resistlessly back.
Cortez and the cavaliers with him were forced to plunge once more into the canal, not all of them this time escaping. Alvarado stood on the brink for a moment, uncertain what to do, death behind him and deadly peril before. He was a man of great strength and agility, and despair now gave him courage. ”

“ On the 24th of June Alvarado arrived at the peñol of Nochistlan, which was protected by seven walls of stone, earth, and trees, and defended by a multitude of warriors. After a short and fruitless parley he pushed forward to take the breastworks by assault. A human flood opposed his progress. Ten thousand Indians, men and women, poured down upon the aggressor like a torrent. The sky was dark with arrows, darts, and stones, and at the first shock twenty Spaniards fell dead. ”

“ The Spaniard saw, wrapped in the rich vestments, only a man,—a king, yet a heathen! He opened his arms: Montezuma stirred not. Cuitlahua uttered a cry to Huitzil’, and caught one of the extended arms. Long did Cortes keep in mind the cacique’s look at that moment; long did he remember the dark brown face, swollen with indignation and horror. Alvarado laid his hand on his sword.
“Peace, Don Pedro!” said Cortes. “The knave knows nothing of respectable customs. Instead of taking to thy sword, bless the Virgin that a Christian knight hath been saved the sin of embracing an unbeliever. ”

“ With the exception of Alvarado, Castro, and Estenega, the members of the Junta were men of middle age, and represented the talent of California,—Jimeno, Gonzales, Arguëllo, Requena, Del Valle. Their dark, bearded faces, upturned to the stars, made a striking set of profiles, but the effect was marred by the silk handkerchiefs they had tied about their heads.
Alvarado spoke, finally, and, after presenting the charges in due form, continued:
"The individual enemy to the government is like the fly to the lion; it cannot harm, but it can annoy. ”

“ Alvarado set out December 6, 1523, with over four hundred Spaniards, of whom one hundred and twenty were horsemen, and an equal number archers and arquebusiers, supported by fully twenty thousand picked warriors, and well provided with field-pieces and war stores. The force embraced the flower of New Spain chivalry, all eager to participate in the opening of the new Dorado, and to share in the enter prises of the dashing Tonatiuh, for whom even the natives seemed nothing loath to abandon their home and country, to judge from their enthusiasm. ”

“ He afterward ascertained that between the opposing lines lay a narrow meadow which the Spaniards mistook for a swamp, and delayed their onset until they had assured themselves of the firmness of the ground. Presently the stirring cry of Santiago! was heard, and Alvarado's heart swelled within him: his passion for human blood appears to increase with the slaughter of his tens of thousands, and the lately gay and gallant cavalier is becoming a monster delighting in carnage and butchery, killing men for the mere pleasure of it. ”

“ Alvarado, Alonzo de, a Knight of Santiago, b. at Secadura de Trasmura, near Burgos, date unknown; d. 1559. He came to America, and went to Peru with Pedro de Alvarado in 1534. He was no relative of the latter, however. While charged by some contemporaries with avarice and cruelty, it is undeniable that during the trying period of civil wars in Peru (about 1537 to 1555) Alvarado was an unflinching and determined adherent to the interests of Spain. He always sided with those whom he thought to be sincere representatives of the crown, and it was not always profitable and safe to be on that side. ”

“ When Alvarado had returned to Cuba with his golden freight, and the accounts of the rich empire of Mexico which he had gathered from the natives, the heart of the governor swelled with rapture as he saw his dreams of avarice and ambition so likely to be realised. Impatient of the long absence of Grijalva, he despatched a vessel in search of him under the command of Olid, a cavalier, who took an important part afterwards in the Conquest. Finally he resolved to fit out another armament on a sufficient scale to insure the subjugation of the country. ”

“ Alvarado had been, as the historical reader is aware, left in Mexico, the jailer of Montezuma and the warden of the city, during the absence of Cortes, when he marched against Narvaez. It was supposed, therefore, that Don Pedro was better acquainted with the persons of the principal nobles than any other cavalier. He examined the captive curiously, and at last said, shaking his head,
"Methinks his visage is not unknown; and yet I wot not to whom it belongs. The knave is but a boy. If he be a noble, never trust me but he is one of Guatimozin's making, and therefore not yet of consequence." ”

“ Angered by this continual desertion, Alvarado ordered the Indians to be pursued, and as many of them as could be seized were branded as slaves. He then hastened forward, directing his march to Acajutla. [XXVI-25] On arriving within half a league of the town he encountered a mighty host drawn up in battle array to oppose him, their ranks extending over a wide plain that lay before the city. 671 It was indeed an inspiriting sight for an Indian fighter. Times had been somewhat tame for the last few days, but here was the promise of rare sport, indeed. ”

“ Why does not the earth swallow you alive? Oh ye gods! ye gods! unmoved all, all but the devilish gods of these devilish men. 422 But our mighty ones, whom you have outraged, shall yet give you your deserts. If they do not, we shall; nor shall they escape, the despicable ones of Tlascala, your slaves, who serve you as women and hire out the wives of their lords!” Thus raved the heart-broken.
So critical had become his condition on the second day that Alvarado appealed to Montezuma to exert his influence to stay the assailants, intimating that if the Spaniards perished so would the Aztec king. ”

“ The houses were very crowded, and made of straw, for in this excessively hot climate the dwellings have no upper stories, and are not built of stone. Father Olmedo here observed to Alvarado, that it would not be advisable to quarter the troops in the houses, for if the inhabitants were to take it into their heads to set fire to the town there would be no possibility of escape. Alvarado considered his apprehensions well founded, and encamped with his men at the extremity of the town. ”

“ Alvarado, who had always proved himself a most faithful servant to his majesty, both during the conquest of New Spain and in the campaigns of Peru, and, with his four brothers, had taken every opportunity to promote the interests of the crown, was desirous on this occasion to surpass every armament which Cortes had fitted out before him. He therefore equipped thirteen vessels of considerable burden, all well provided with ammunition, provisions, and water, and care was taken to select the best sailors and the most experienced pilots. ”

“ At the dread passage all of them drew rein except Morla; down the slope of the dyke he rode, and spurring into the lake, through the canoes and floating débris, he headed to save his friend. Useless the gallantry! The assault upon Alvarado had ceased,—with what purpose he knew. Never should they take him alive! Hualpa’s lance, of great length, was lying at his feet. Suddenly, casting away his sword and shield, he snatched up his enemy’s weapon, broke the ring that girdled him, ran to the edge of the canal, and vaulted in air. Loud the cry of the Christians, louder that of the infidels! ”

“ The seditious schemes of Alvarado perished with him. The seeds of insubordination were eradicated, and from that moment Almagro experienced only implicit obedience and the most loyal support from his followers. From that hour, too, his own character seemed to be changed; he relied far less on others than on himself, and developed resources not to have been anticipated in one of his years ”