be transfixed by the Spaniards on the ledges below. As their number diminished, many a one sought the higher martyrdom by leaping from the sacred spot into paradise. Thus melted away that fated band of Aztec warriors. At the portal of Huitzilopochtli’s chapel fell the last defender; and two priests, one of them the high-priest, alone remained to offer themselves as captives. On entering the chapel consecrated to the virgin no traces appeared of the holy emblems, only evidences of idolatrous rites, and upon the altar stains from the blackened hands of the temple attendants.21 In the adjoining chapel the war-god was found reinstalled in all its glittering hideousness. Some consolation for this sacrilegious intrusion was offered to the victors in despoiling it of the rich ornaments, while the cacao and other provisions stored here by the garrison proved a prize to the half-famished Spaniards. The Tlascaltecs, so long deprived of meat, pounced upon the bodies of the slain heroes to secure them for a feast, which should not only satisfy the cravings of hunger, but infuse their hearts and minds with some of the qualities of the valiant dead.22 The chapels were then fired. The upper portion of the structure being of wood, the flames rose in columns heavenward, heralding the triumph of the Spaniard, and striking the Indian with awe. It was a great and thrilling feat, this fight upon the temple top; and so the natives regarded it, their heart, and mind, and paintings being all stained sanguine over its remembrance.23
Table of Contents
CHAPTER XXIV. FIGHT UPON THE TEMPLE SUMMIT. June , 1520.
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