I could consider all my past, I could wonder on the future of my spirit,
and even marvel at the gentleness and wisdom of the Indian woman, who
was able to think such thoughts and utter them.

Well, whatever befell, in one thing I would not disappoint her, I would
die bravely as an Englishman should do, leaving the rest to God. These
barbarians should never say of me that the foreigner was a coward. Who
was I that I should complain? Did not hundreds of men as good as I was
perish daily in yonder square, and without a murmur? Had not my mother
died also at the hand of a murderer? Was not that unhappy lady, Isabella
de Siguenza, walled up alive because she had been mad enough to love a
villain who betrayed her? The world is full of terrors and sorrows such
as mine, who was I that I should complain?


So I mused on till at length the day dawned, and with the rising sun
rose the clamour of men making ready for battle. For now the fight raged
from day to day, and this was to be one of the most terrible. But I
thought little then of the war between the Aztecs and the Spaniards,
who must prepare myself for the struggle of my own death that was now at
hand.



CHAPTER XXI

THE KISS OF LOVE


Presently there was a sound of music, and, accompanied by certain