th rage. Whirling the wooden
sword with both hands I smote him in mid air, the blow passing between
his open paws and catching him full on the snout and head. So hard was
this stroke that my weapon was shattered, still it did not stop the
puma. In a second I was cast to the earth with a great shock, and the
brute was on me tearing and biting at my chest and neck. It was well for
me at that moment that I wore a garment of quilted cotton, otherwise
I must have been ripped open, and even with this covering I was sadly
torn, and to this day I bear the marks of the beast's claws upon my
body. But now when I seemed to be lost the great blow that I had struck
took effect on him, for one of the points of glass had pierced to his
brain. He lifted his head, his claws contracted themselves in my flesh,
then he howled like a dog in pain and fell dead upon my body. So I
lay upon the ground unable to stir, for I was much hurt, until my
companions, having taken heart, came back and pulled the puma off me.
By this time Guatemoc, who saw all, but till now was unable to move from
lack of breath, had found his feet again.

'Teule,' he gasped, 'you are a brave man indeed, and if you live I swear
that I will always stand your friend to the death as you have stood
mine.'

Thus he spoke to me; but to the others he said nothing, casting no
reproaches at them.

Then I fainted away.

CHAPTER XV

THE COURT OF MONTEZUMA

Now for a week I was so ill from my wounds that I was unable to be
moved, and then I must be carried in a litter till we came to within
three days' journey of the city of Tenoctitlan or Mexico. After that,
as the roads were now better made and cared for than any I have seen in
England, I was able to take to my feet again. Of this I was glad, for
I have no love of being borne on the shoulders of other men after the
womanish Indian fashion, and, moreover, as we had now come to a cold
country, the road running through vast table-lands and across the tops
of mountains, it was no longer necessary as it had been in the hot
lands. Never did I see anything more dreary than these immense lengths
of desolate plains covered with aloes and other thorny and succulent
shrubs of fantastic aspect, which alone could live on the sandy and
waterless soil. This is a strange land, that can boast three separate
climates within its borders, and is able to show all the glories of the
tropics side by side with deserts of measureless expanse.