Cacama

“ Had Cacama been at liberty, Roger would not have hesitated a moment, but would have left the Spaniards and thrown in his lot with the Mexicans; but now it was impossible to do so. The frenzied population would have seized any white man they came upon, outside the walls of the palace, and would have carried him to the altars of their gods. It would be hopeless to endeavor to explain that he was of another race. All white men would be alike, in their eyes. ”

“ To the affrighted monarch anything was acceptable that would stay prompt action, and consequently defer the ruin which he feared. He at once inclined to Cacama's advice, stipulating, however, that he, king as he was, should condescend to meet the Spaniards and sound their intentions. "May the gods not place within your house, my lord, one who shall cast you forth and usurp the empire," was the solemn warning of Cuitlahuatzin, as he heard this resolution. ”

“ I suppose you have heard of his father.”
“You mean the wise ’Hualpilli?”
“Yes. Upon his death, not long since, Iztlil’ denied his brother’s right to the Tezcucan throne. There was a quarrel which would have ended in blood, had not Montezuma interfered, and given the city to Cacama, and all the northern part of the province to Iztlil’. Since that, the latter has been discontented with the great king. So, I say again, do not think of him, unless you are careless about honor.”
“Then what of Cacama? [8] Tezcuco is a goodly city.”
“He has courage, but is too effeminate to be a great warrior. ”

“ And you, you, my very loving brother, stood by and let them live after such rebel words?"
"And why should I not?" coolly answered Cacama. "The boy who can pitch his poor nurse into a well because she doesn't please his little lordship will not hesitate to throw a nation into strife if so the fancy takes him. The boy who tries his hand at ixoxal in totoloque will not stop at darker work when the prize is a throne. ”

“ He was a young man of about twenty-five years of age, erect and proud, as became an Indian chief, coming in a splendid litter borne on the shoulders of men. As he alighted his attendants began to gather the stones which strewed his path, and to sweep it clean for his richly-sandaled feet. [1] As he advanced into the presence of the general he bowed to touch the earth, and then raised his right hand to his head—a Mexican token of respect to a person of high rank now common in Oriental lands. Cacama was bearer of another chilling message from Montezuma. ”

“ Cacama, the young King of Tezcuco, his nephew, counselled him to receive the Spaniards courteously, as ambassadors, so styled by themselves, of a foreign prince. Cuitlahua, Montezuma's more warlike brother, urged him to muster his forces on the instant, and drive back the invaders from his capital, or die in its defence. But the monarch found it difficult to rally his spirits for this final struggle. ”

“ The eldest son was deemed incompetent to rule the kingdom, Cacama was chosen by the council, and the choice warmly approved by Montezuma, who was Cacama's uncle. When the decision was announced to the other brothers, Cohuanacoch approved it, but Ixtlilxochitl protested against the choice of Cacama, insisting that his oldest brother should be proclaimed king. Something has already been said about this prince's fiery temper in early years, [IX-55] and age seems to have had no effect in calming his violent character. ”

“ They will have lost their guns, and if the Aztecs continue to press them as hotly as they did upon the causeway, they may slay them all; but if they give them time to rally, they may yet fight their way back to Tlascala."
"And you will stop here with us, Roger. Is it not so?"
"If your people will allow me to do so, I will, Amenche. I ask for nothing better; but remember that even Cacama, himself, felt doubtful whether he could protect me from the power of the priests--and at that time their reason for hating the Spaniards was small to what it now is, and Cacama himself has gone. ”

“ Roger replied. "I could not leave the palace without permission, and Malinche told him of the kindness I had experienced at your hands. He himself is uneasy at the position in which he finds himself, uncertain of Montezuma's intentions, and fearful of an assault; and he bade me try to find out, as far as might be, what was the general opinion respecting the Spaniards."
"The opinion of the ignorant," Cacama said, with a contemptuous wave of the hand, "is worth nothing. They go where they are led. They believe what they are last told. They shout when they are told to shout. ”

“ It seems not unreasonable that the natives should have charged their death wounds to the Spaniards, who, rather than see men like King Cacama free to create mischief, should have preferred to dispatch them, offering, Medea-like, a bribe to reverence and love with a view to retard the Colchian pursuers. ”

“ The Aztecs, forsaken of their monarch, had bold and talented leaders, who were competent both to devise and to execute the measures deemed necessary for the public good, and to lead on their marshalled hosts, to battle and to victory. Cacama, the young Prince of Tezcuco, burning to retrieve his fatal error in counselling and aiding the friendly reception of the [Pg 128] Spaniards, now joined all his resources with those of Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, in endeavoring to recover the ground they had lost. ”

“ At this time a terrible fight was raging all around them. The natives had gained a footing on the causeway, and the Spaniards were fighting hand to hand with them.
"I am mortally wounded, Roger," Cacama said. "Most of the others have already fallen. It is better so. I have lived long enough to see vengeance taken on our oppressors.
"Roger, there is one chance for you. Wrap round you one of our mantles. In the darkness, none will see that you are not a Mexican, and they will not shoot at you. ”

“ There can be no pomp and ceremonial of burial. That must come when peace is restored, and we carry Cacama's ashes to be laid with his father's, at Tezcuco. Bathalda and some of the slaves have already started to bring in wood for the funeral pile. All will be ready by sunrise, tomorrow."
Roger's wounds were dressed, by one of the slaves who was skilled in all operations connected with wounds; and he slept, without once waking, until Cuitcatl came to him in the morning and bade him arise, as all was ready for the ceremony of Cacama's cremation. ”

“ Cacama said. "My sister naturally would be sorry to leave her own country, but if the time came that you should wish to return home, she would not hesitate to make the sacrifice, and to accompany you. A Mexican woman, when she loves, is ready to give up everything."
For a moment Roger turned the matter rapidly over in his mind, and saw that, even were he disposed to refuse Amenche's hand, which indeed he was not, it would be almost impossible for him to do so. ”

“ He had once or twice in the past few days been enabled, by the intervention of Marina, to visit the prisoners. Cacama's spirit was in no way shaken by captivity.
"Your general has made a fatal mistake," he said, "in sending Cuitlahua out to pacify the populace. He is of very different stuff from Montezuma, who has become a woman in the hands of the Spanish. You will see that he will never return, but will lead the people on to the attack.
"It matters little to us. I know that we shall never escape. The Spaniards will slay us all, rather than that we should rejoin our people. ”

“ The reader will remember that the cacique of that place, named Cacama, was deposed by Cortés, during his first residence in the Aztec metropolis, in consequence of a projected revolt against the Spaniards, and that the crown had been placed on the head of a younger brother, Cuicuitzca. The deposed prince was among the prisoners carried away by Cortés, and perished with the others, in the terrible passage of the causeway, on the noche triste. ”

“ Cacama replied. "Montezuma is supreme; and he and the priests, together, are all powerful. Roger is not like other men. Were he so, I would tell him when night falls to fly, and Cuitcatl would risk the consequences, I am sure, and act as his guide; but being as he is, where could he go, or where could he hide? Were it known in the morning that he was missing, a hundred messengers from Mexico would carry the news to every town and village in the country. Even if we colored his skin and his hair, his height would attract attention ”

“ He sat in silence for two or three minutes after Cacama had ceased speaking, and then said:
"Forgive me, Prince, for not responding, at once, to an offer so far above my deserts, and of the honor of which I am most deeply sensible. There could be no greater happiness, for a man, than to be the husband of one so fair, and in every way charming, as the Princess Amenche ”

“ There are other Aztecs who are willing enough to act as our spies, and who will keep us informed of what is going on. Hitherto their reports have agreed with Sancho's, but from his sending the young fellow back here, Cacama may now be intending to act against us."
Cacama, indeed, lost no time in setting to work, and began to form a league with many of the leading nobles, to rescue the emperor and destroy the Spaniards. Montezuma's brother Cuitlahua and many others agreed, at once, to join him ”

“ It is also the custom to sacrifice numbers of slaves, and send them to be his attendants upon the road. But the Unknown God hates all sacrifices of blood; and Cacama, although forced to yield to the power of the priests, would have had none, could he have helped it, in Tezcuco."
Cuitcatl, as the oldest friend of the dead prince, applied a torch to the pile, which was composed for the most part of aromatic wood. Maclutha and Amenche broke into a plaintive hymn, in which their attendants, and the females who had collected, in considerable numbers, from the neighboring villages, joined. ”

“ Race aversions and the political systems of the tripartite alliance caused more than one party to be formed, each with aspirations that could not be entertained by the others. The most prominent leader at this time was Cacama, who had at first favored the strangers in their character as envoys. ”

“ But while he resigned himself without a struggle to his inglorious fate there were others who looked on it with very different emotions Among them was his nephew Cacama, lord of Tezcuco, a young man not more than twenty-five years of age, but who enjoyed great consideration from his high personal qualities, especially his intrepidity of character. He was the same prince who had been sent by Montezuma to welcome the Spaniards on their entrance into the valley ”

“ Among the prisoners Cortés enumerates the legitimate son of Montezuma, and two of his daughters, probably those bestowed on the general in marriage, King Cacama and his younger brother and successor, and several other high personages. [14] The sick were to be carried in hammocks and behind riders.
It is the evening of the 30th of June. [15] Fiery copper has been the sky that day; the sun blood-red and moon-like, turning day to night, when night is so soon to be employed as day. ”

“ Cacamatzin, however, was a young hothead, and supported in his views by a great number of chiefs, who constantly kept urging him on to fall upon us. He, therefore, sent word to Cortes that he had already heard too much of his smooth words, and desired he would send him no more of his messages; it would be quite time enough to talk with each other when their armies stood one against the other in the field of battle. ”

“ When this was accomplished, Cacamatzin became the prisoner of Cortes.
From all this the reader may well imagine on how short a thread our lives hung. Every day we heard nothing but how they were planning to cut us off to a man and eat our flesh. The mercy of God was all that saved us. To God alone were we Indebted that the excellent Montezuma furthered our affairs. ”

“ Cacamatzin was favored by Montezuma, and was crowned King of Tezcoco, while the fiery Ixtlilxochitl withdrew in a rage to the mountains. He was followed by a large force, and raised an army of nearly one hundred thousand men, with which he marched southward against Tezcoco. He took Otompan, and made it his capital, and his brothers were glad to send him word that they would divide the kingdom with him, he taking the mountains and they the plain. ”

“ Cacami and myself labored side by side for the freedom of Tezcuco, in times that tried the patriotism of her sons. I know him to be a patriot and true friend, which I have proven, not only once, but many times. He is a brave and valiant warrior, to which our noble Hualcoyotl can bear abundant testimony. He is a true man, in that he has staked his life in an issue which involves those emotions and sentiments of the heart which honor a man above all others—a pure, unsullied love for the woman of his choice. ”

“ This man, whose hand had sent the messenger of death, which so materially affected the aspect of the tragedy, suddenly became an object of speculation and the hero of the hour.
The king commanded that the slayer of the insane warrior be brought into his presence. When he appeared, in obedience to the command, great was the surprise and pleasure of Macua, and those with him, to see in the expert lancer the tzin's companion, Cacami.
The king said:
"We would honor the man who can throw a javelin so true, and at such a time; especially do we take pleasure in honoring Cacami. ”