"Olin is the orator--the king is wise," replied the Indian, hastily. "It is in vain," said Juan. "Thou art Guatimozin! and a captive, too, ere a blow has been struck, in the camp of thy foeman! Is this an end for the king of Mexico?" "Quauhtimozin can die: there are other kings for the free warriors of Tenochtitlan," replied the young monarch, boldly and haughtily, avowing his name,--which is here given in its original and genuine harshness, that the reader may be made acquainted with it; though it is not intended to substitute it for its more agreeable and familiar corruption: "Guatimozin is a prisoner," he continued, with a firm voice and lofty demeanour, "but the king of Mexico is free.--When did the Great Eagle become the foe of Guatimozin?" "I am not thy foe," replied Juan, "but thy friend; so far, at least, as it becomes a Christian and Spaniard to be. I lament to see thee in this place--I am not thy foe." "Raise then thy weapon," said the prince, dropping his haughty manner and ceremonious style, and speaking, as he laid his hand on Juan's arm, with fierce emotion; "strike me through the neck, and cast my body into the pool.--It is not fit that Guatimozin should wear the bonds of Montezuma!" It must not be supposed that this conversation took place in quiet. During the whole time, on the contrary, the garden continued to resound with the voices of men running from copse to copse, from alley to alley, sometimes drawing nigh, and, at other moments, appearing to be removed to the furthest limits of the grounds. At the moment when the Mexican made his abrupt and insane appeal to the friendship of his capturer, a party of Spaniards rushed by at so short a distance and with so much clamour, that he had good reason to conceive himself almost already in their hands. They passed by, however, and with them fled a portion of Juan's embarrassment. As soon as he perceived they were beyond hearing, he replied: "This were to be thy foe indeed. But, oh, unwise and imprudent! what tempted thee to this mad confidence?" "The craft of Malintzin," replied the Mexican, making use of a name which his people had long since attached to Cortes,--"the craft of Malintzin, who ensnares his foe like the wild Ottomi, hidden among the reeds;--he scatters the sweet berry on the lake, and steals upon the feeding sheldrake; so steals Malintzin. He sends words of peace to the foe afar; when the foe is asleep, Malintzin is a tiger!" "And thou hast been deceived by these perfidious and unworthy arts?" said Juan, the innuendoes of Villafana and the monitions of Magdalena, recurring to his mind with painful force. "Deceived and trapped!" replied the infidel, with fierce indignation; "cajoled by lies, circumvented by treachery, seduced and betrayed!--Is the Great Eagle like Malintzin?" As he spoke thus, sinking his voice, which was indeed all the time cautiously subdued, he again laid his hand on the young Christian's arm, and continued,