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ZULULU 
 
 THE MAID OF ANAHUAC 
 
 HANNA A. FOSTER 
 
 
 JAN 3,1892 , 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 27 West Twenty-third St, 
 
 LONDON 
 24 Bedford St., Strand 
 
 1892 
 

 < 
 
 Col'YRIGH 1, i8qI 
 BY 
 
 HANNA A. FOSTER 
 
 Electrotyperi, Printed, and Bound by 
 
 Ube ftnicfeeibochcr press, IRew Korh 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 T^HE masterly epic which celebrates the abduc- 
 * tion of a beautiful woman, and the induction 
 of a wooden horse, is no longer a series of myths. 
 Its essential verities have at length been estab- 
 lished in the priceless exhumations of the anti- 
 quarian. 
 
 The sunny lands of the Americas teem with 
 buried evidences of a civilization which in its at- 
 tendant triumphs of war and peace, and in the 
 intensity of its loves and hates, perhaps no Homeric 
 character could excel. 
 
 Many theories have been evolved from the 
 speculations of the savant as to the anthropology 
 of the successive American races which have come 
 and gone. But no Homer or Virgil has seen fit to 
 commemorate their heroic deeds and the tender 
 passion of love indigenous to every clime and race 
 and heart. 
 
 The author, while claiming no classic excellence, 
 has patiently studied so much of the history, rites, 
 and customs of the Mayas, Nahuas, and Toltecs 
 
IV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as is attainable, and selecting the golden era of 
 peaceful progress betwixt the gruesome periods 
 reddened with human sacrifices, has sought to sing 
 a tale of passion, tragedy, and romance consistent 
 with the chronology, fact, and tradition of which 
 it is a part. 
 
 Ancient Mexico and Xibalba had their Oribos 
 and Zululus, as well as their culture heroes, with 
 whom the indulgent reader will become acquainted. 
 
 H. A. F. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Anahuac I 
 
 CANTO II. 
 The Oracle 14 
 
 CANTO III, 
 
 XlBALBA 27 
 
 CANTO IV. 
 Kaska . .37 
 
 CANTO V. 
 Portents , . 43 
 
 CANTO VI. 
 The Flight 53 
 
 CANTO VII. 
 The Conflict 59 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CANTO VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 In Quizquo's Cave 64 
 
 CANTO IX. 
 After the Battle 69 
 
 CANTO X. 
 The Fever Weed 75 
 
 CANTO XL 
 The Search 84 
 
 CANTO XII. 
 The Triai 91 
 
 CANTO XIII. 
 
 Some Causes will be Heard Again .... 97 
 
 CANTO XIV. 
 A Plea for Life 102 
 
 CANTO XV. 
 Fulfilment 108 
 
 Notes 115 
 
ZULULU, 
 THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 ANAHUAC. 
 
 TN days of eld, that yesterday 
 •^ Lost from the calendar, away 
 Behind the centuries gray and grand 
 Lay westerly the sunlit land 
 Of Anahuac,^ whose mountains bold, 
 White-hooded chroniclers grown old, 
 Stood up in heaven's eternal calm 
 And challenged time. 
 
 A land of balm. 
 And bloom, and song, and murmuring rills, 
 Cool crystal lakes, and vales, and hills 
 With grassy slopes where sunshine played ; 
 Of unhewn forests ripe with shade 
 Far stretching like a sombre sea. 
 Intense with depth and mystery — 
 
ZULULU, 
 
 The haunt of life so free and wild 
 That Nature wondered at her child. 
 A land the very gods did love 
 What time they lifted her above 
 The fevered zone to healthful heights, 
 And crowned her with untold delights.'' 
 
 Here, dwelt in olden pomp and power, 
 The gallant chief Oxac,' the flower 
 Of chieftancy. With dauntless heart, 
 Alert, and skilled in war's red art, 
 Of balanced brain and nervy hand, 
 A man to counsel, lead, command. 
 Though many hundred moons had shed 
 Their silver on his princely head, 
 His stalwart form was all unbent 
 As when to earliest war he went 
 A stripling brave ; his keen, black eye 
 Undimmed, still read the lettered sky 
 And marked the planets as they beat 
 Their azure rounds with shining feet 
 To score the cycles in their flight 
 On mile-stones of primeval night. 
 
 A double nature his ; though mild 
 As zephyr's breath, yet fierce and wild 
 As hurricane that plucks the oak. 
 Or fells a forest by his stroke. 
 A man of subtile, sudden moods, 
 Who forth to abstract solitudes 
 Would oft compel his noble heart 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 
 
 From human sympathy apart, 
 Withdraw within himself, content 
 With narrowest environment 
 If but the world might be shut out, 
 The gods shut in with thoughts devout 
 And questioning. But when again 
 Came Oxac to the life of men, 
 The world of duty, beauty, sense, 
 Bore impress of omnipotence ; 
 Affairs of state, love's gentle call, 
 He noted, heard, and heeded all 
 His soul absorbed the warm delisrhts 
 
 o 
 
 Of summer lands, all sounds, all sights. 
 At glow of noon, or twilight dim, 
 Were marvellously sweet to him. 
 
 He swayed the power of felt command. 
 Held justice's scales with steady hand, 
 Marked with exactness each offence, 
 Its gravity and recompense. 
 And dealt with prompt relentless fate, 
 The awful penalties of state.* 
 
 Of royal birth, with rightful claim 
 
 To rich inheritance of name, 
 
 Ancestral wealth, and power and pride, 
 
 Yet would he often turn aside 
 
 With Nature, when like dreams of night 
 
 The shadows melted into light. 
 
 And new-born day, baptized with charms. 
 
 Sprang joyous from her gracious arms. 
 
ZUL UL CI, 
 
 At noontide hour he sought her, far 
 From life's distracting noise and jar, 
 For converse sweet ; and when the gray 
 Of twilight veiled the weary day, 
 Adown her evening avenues 
 O'erhung with stars and paved with dews 
 Full oft he followed. 
 
 Nature spells 
 Her laws by easy syllables 
 To those who trace o'er pages white 
 Her index finger tipped with light. 
 A pupil apt, he understood 
 Her whispers in the solemn wood. 
 Her sighs among the mountain pines. 
 Her breathings 'mid the valley vines, 
 All paths her foot was wont to press ; 
 He heard the rustle of her dress 
 As through the golden maize she sped, 
 And touched his lips, and bowed his head. 
 
 Yet more ; his will was held in thrall ; 
 His soul was full of worship ; all 
 Her mighty forces meekly bent 
 Before the gods ' omnipotent 
 Who gave the sunshine and the shower, 
 And victory in the doubtful hour 
 Of conflict, or with vengeance dire 
 Sent tempest, pestilence and fire. 
 With sore disaster. To appease 
 The rage of angry deities 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC. 
 
 And hold their favor, Oxac reared 
 Full many a temple, and well steered 
 His craft of state through calm and swell, 
 By faith's unquestioned oracle. 
 
 The valley held in warm embrace 
 
 A pretty lake with dimpled face 
 
 O'er which the rippling laughter skipped, 
 
 Where song-birds from her fresh lips sipped 
 
 Love's liquid melodies, which made 
 
 An Eden of the sylvan shade. 
 
 From hidden homes among the hills, 
 Came prattling down the merry rills, 
 O'er shining sands and pebbles white, 
 Fair wantons, dancing with delight. 
 
 From distant northland, calm and strong, 
 A river rolled ; with bloom and song 
 The margin meadows sought to stay 
 The steadfast pilgrim on his way ; 
 He tarried not ; within his soul 
 Eternal purpose held control, 
 While deep-toned voices from the sea 
 Urged onward to his destiny. 
 
 Like some huge giant in repose. 
 
 His heaving breast o'erspread with snows, 
 
 In slumbers ominous and deep. 
 
 Now shivering, talking in his sleep, 
 
ZUL UL U, 
 
 Old Popocatepetl ' lay, 
 His knees enwrapped with green and gray 
 Thick-woven, and his hoary head 
 High-pillowed and cloud-canopied. 
 
 Low at his feet among the flowers, 
 Were villages with walls and towers, 
 And busy throngs who spun and wrought 
 Life's wondrous web of deed and thought.'' 
 Ho, weavers of that long ago, 
 What word for us ? 
 
 " 'T is well to know 
 As flies the shuttle to and fro 
 The pattern grows, and not in vain 
 Does patience hold the tangled skein, — 
 A break, a knot in thread of gold 
 Will mar the web a thousand-fold." 
 
 The royal city Iztapec * 
 
 Rose in her beauty from the wreck 
 
 Of one despoiled ; more proud perchance, 
 
 Because of direful circumstance 
 
 Which shook the olden city down. 
 
 But left a name, and fair renown, 
 
 And broad foundations, hers at length, 
 
 Her polished stepping-stones to strength. 
 
 Within this city Oxac built 
 His palace home, o'erlaid with gilt 
 The ceilings of its massive halls. 
 And covered lustrous floors and walls 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 
 
 With'legends writ in picture words, 
 Of gods and heroes, serpents, birds. 
 And characters of strange designs 
 Described by geometric lines, 
 All chronicled in colors ' sure ; 
 And every room had garniture 
 Of regal opulence and ease. 
 
 Soft swung the door-way draperies, 
 Their silvery fringes flashing back 
 Bright glances on the zephyr's track — 
 The zephyr, that in wanton mood 
 Oft floated from the odorous wood 
 The palace seeking, and beguiled 
 By gentle breathings of the child 
 Zululu," lingered while she slept. 
 Nor thought o'er long the watch he kept. 
 
 Zululu was the chieftain's pride. 
 
 His only child ; he could not hide 
 
 His heart from her whose winsome grace 
 
 Would chase the care-cloud from his face. 
 
 And light his eye — she could but know 
 
 It was because he loved her so. 
 
 Ten summers in her path had strewn 
 
 Their blossoms, and ten times had flown ; 
 
 A little maiden full of glee. 
 
 And happy all the day was she ; 
 
 As lightsome as the gay gazelle 
 
 That bounds along his native dell 
 
ZULULU, 
 
 'Neath Afric skies, and questioning 
 
 All things for joy — and everything 
 
 Returned glad answer ; thus she grew 
 
 Beloved, and beautiful, and true ; 
 
 Her heart as tuneful and unstirred 
 
 By thought of ill, as May-time bird 
 
 That cleaves the blue. When from the chase 
 
 Oxac returned, her glad young face 
 
 First met him with its greeting fair, 
 
 The sunset's gold upon her hair,^' 
 
 And wealth of sparkles in her eyes, 
 
 As dancing down the galleries 
 
 In gay apparel, on his sight 
 
 She flashed, a vision of delight. 
 
 Companions they, in fields and bowers, 
 Together learned the names of flowers, 
 Their lovely natures and designs. 
 The while for consecrated shrines 
 Zululu many a garland bound. 
 With reverent love, unfearing crowned 
 Her temple gods. But when her hands 
 Grew weary, and on fragrant bands 
 Lay folded, Oxac would retell 
 Some wonder story, woven well 
 Of legendary thread spun out 
 From years forgotten, wound about 
 By weird ideals, but with form 
 Defying cataclysmal storm, 
 Which stood above the misty sea 
 As traced upon eternity. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 9 
 
 LEGEND OF CHOLULA.'' 
 
 Far away in the past, in the beginning, 
 Ere the light of the sun had been created, 
 Lifeless, and void, and dark with desolation, 
 A dreary waste, by boundless seas surrounded, 
 Lay this fair land, the home of the Nahuas.^' 
 At length arose the sun and scattered darkness. 
 Then was the land possessed by men gigantic, 
 With faces terrible, and forms distorted. 
 Who stalked abroad and looked with eyes au- 
 dacious 
 Upon the sun — his rising and his setting. 
 And said, " Lo, we will seek him in his chamber " ; 
 Then some swift-footed toward the far west jour- 
 neyed. 
 And others eastward, yet were all turned backward 
 By the wide sea. Then came they to Cholula 
 And built a mighty tower with summit lifted 
 To touch the sky. " Now in his unveiled beauty. 
 In matchless glory bathed, shall we behold him." 
 Their impious words heard the Great Heart of 
 
 Heaven, 
 And to the dwellers of the heights celestial 
 Out spoke with mighty voice : " Come and con- 
 found them ! 
 Earthborn, they build of clay with hands polluted, 
 A highway to the heavens. Amazing folly ! " 
 Like lightnings fierce, down swept the starry 
 
 legions 
 And smote the tower with terrible destruction, 
 
lO ZUL UL U, 
 
 Each man in speech made alien to his fellow, 
 And scattered swift and wide the wicked builders, 
 Whose deeds Cholulan ruins scarce remember. 
 Whose names Cholulan ruins have forgotten. 
 
 Long time intent, the dark-eyed child 
 
 Would listen, led through mazes wild 
 
 To many a wonder-land remote 
 
 From modern thought, her magic boat 
 
 Wide waters sailing toward green shores, 
 
 Where dimpled hands might drop their oars, 
 
 And softly anchor to the past 
 
 An atom in that misty vast ! 
 
 With foot untired, and vision clear. 
 
 She breathed the marvellous atmosphere 
 
 Of deluged worlds, and races lost. 
 
 And paths primeval darkly crossed 
 
 By fate. Yet had she greed of good. 
 
 She loved and better understood 
 
 The story of the god ^* benign. 
 
 Whose name and virtues all divine 
 
 So charmed her that the pure and true 
 
 Into her very being grew ; 
 
 While thoughts that knew no form of speech 
 
 Grew restless with desire to reach 
 
 New altitudes, where questions find 
 
 Plain answers. For each human mind 
 
 Instinctive tries its pinioned wings. 
 
 And each, in touch with unseen things 
 
 Is neighbor to his fellow : Where ? 
 
 It matters not : that vital air 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. II 
 
 Inbreathed at birth, all life inspires — 
 Through all gradations ; its desires, 
 Ambitions, loves, hates, hopes, and fears, 
 To all climes native, through all years 
 Immortal. 
 
 Love did so unite 
 The chieftain and his child ! his might 
 Zululu crowned and glorified 
 With all a daughter's trust and pride. 
 Her simple plays he stooped to share, 
 Her wishes were his sacred care ; 
 However oft, his hour of rest 
 Invading with the fair request, 
 'T was Oxac's pleasure to repeat 
 The story that she deemed so sweet. 
 
 LEGEND OF QUETZALCOATLE.'^ 
 
 From the far east — from Hue-Hue-Tlaplan," 
 Came the Divine One, God of the Nahuas, 
 The Plumed Serpent, guardian of his people. 
 Who brought the golden maize to Tamoanchan,^^ 
 In furrows long did hide the seeds of plenty. 
 And bid the gentle south winds breathe above 
 
 them, 
 The vernal showers, life giving, drop their fulness, 
 Till woke, and rose, and in the sunshine ripened 
 Abundant harvests, making glad our fathers. 
 Great was their god, beneficent and gentle. 
 With holy hands he cleansed their bloody altars 
 
12 ZULULU, 
 
 And made them pure and bright with fruits and 
 flowers, 
 
 Empurpled clusters, eglantines, magnolias ; 
 
 From mountain pines their gums, and from the 
 valley 
 
 Vanilla odoriferous, and spices. 
 
 Then fled from Anahuac war, want, and famine, 
 
 Nor found in all the land a habitation. 
 
 Because the God of Peace — the Plumed Serpent, 
 
 By virtuous precepts, and divine behavior. 
 
 Made wise the people, in all arts benignant ; 
 
 Taught them to fill their store-rooms with abun- 
 dance. 
 
 Enlarge their villages, and build great cities ; 
 
 To feed with unstained hands their sacred fires 
 
 And worship worthily the Heart of Heaven. 
 
 Above the ruins of that impious tower. 
 Hurled earthward by the mighty sky god mad- 
 dened. 
 The brave Nahuas in their hero's honor 
 Built this eternal temple of Cholula, 
 Where we, proud children of a race illustrious, 
 His shrines enwreathe with flowers of fond affec- 
 tion. 
 And burn sweet incense on his sacred altars. 
 Till he shall come again from far Tlapala — 
 That unknown and mysterious country, whither 
 In a canoe of serpent skins embarking 
 He sailed away, leaving his happy kingdom, 
 His palaces of turquoise, gold, and silver, 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC, 
 
 13 
 
 His pyramidal temple, and his people — 
 
 For so the feverish draught of Tulla^^ prompted. 
 
 But by and by shall ope the gates of morning, 
 
 From distant northland, waters wide recrossing, 
 
 Shall come to Anahuac the Plumed Serpent, 
 
 The God-King of our fathers, the Nahuas, 
 
 To claim his kingdom prosperous and perpetual. 
 
 >^t§^ 
 
CANTO II. 
 
 THE ORACLE. 
 
 ONE night a foolish dream he had 
 Which troubled Oxac ; though he bade 
 The vision vanish at the dawn, 
 It shadowed him — would not be gone. 
 The dream was this : 
 
 Deep in the wood, 
 With spirit bold, and weapon good, 
 He followed fearless and afar 
 Through darksome wilds the jaguar ; 
 So near at length his savage prize 
 He saw the flash of deadly eyes 
 From covert green ; alert, intent, 
 His trusty bow the huntsman bent 
 With skillful hand ; but ere was sped 
 The eager arrow, o'er his head, 
 From lowest perch of scraggy oak, 
 An evil bird with dismal croak 
 Surprised him ! thrice it circled low. 
 Then rose, and with a voice of woe 
 Flew straight to Iztapec, and through 
 The palace window, bloom and dew 
 
 14 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. I 5 
 
 With black wing brushing, thence did wrest 
 A pretty dove from sheltered nest, 
 The which, with hoarse, defiant croak. 
 He bore away. — So Oxac woke. 
 
 There was a priestess weird and old, 
 
 Blind, wizened, bent, whose fingers cold 
 
 And cramped the oracles could trace. 
 
 With whom the gods talked face to face. 
 
 The dream — it haunted Oxac's thought, 
 
 And though he said " 'T is naught, 't is naught/* 
 
 The resolute assertion lent 
 
 No mollient to his discontent, 
 
 Which prompted to the sibyl's art. 
 
 And deeming heavier on his heart 
 
 The burden of a nameless dread 
 
 Than direful dream interpreted, 
 
 He rose, and from his chamber strode, 
 
 Though half in scorn, to her abode, 
 
 A grewsome den to night allied ; 
 
 With reckless hand he drew aside 
 
 The poison vines which wove across 
 
 The door-way dim from sedgy fosse 
 
 To bramble bold, and peering in 
 
 Beheld her, and his peace to win 
 
 Invoked with fitting gifts the shrine 
 
 Of rites mysterious and divine, 
 
 And prostrate, but with quickened sense, 
 
 Gave all her wild words audience. 
 
 " Before my eyes, without disguise, 
 O chief, the vision lies : 
 
1 6 ZULULU, 
 
 "War, waste, and woe ; a foe, a foe, 
 A kingdom's overthrow ! 
 
 « A tangled thread, the dead, the dead ! 
 A chieftain with bowed head. 
 
 " A knave, a knave ! a brave, a brave ! 
 Zululu weds her slave ! " 
 
 Upspringing from the earth, he fled 
 
 As chased by doom ; his stricken head 
 
 By clammy palm upheld and pressed, 
 
 His throbbing brain all wildernessed 
 
 With tangled thought. The round old world 
 
 Before him into chaos whirled ; 
 
 The ground was treacherous to his tread, 
 
 The atmosphere dispirited 
 
 With suffocation, and the light 
 
 Scorched his wild eyeballs into night. 
 
 His palace gained, he sought a nook 
 In distant chamber, and betook 
 Himself to battle. Fierce the strife 
 Within his bosom. 
 
 " What were life 
 To me and mine, if cruel fate 
 Shall hurl us from this proud estate 
 And rude barbarians trample down 
 My people, city, and renown ? 
 For this hath Oxac fearless fought 
 His country's deadliest battles— brought 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC, IJ 
 
 Strange banners home, and victory ? 
 So thus the gods reward him ! aye, 
 For this his child — it shall not be ! 
 A curse upon the prophecy ! " 
 
 Rage is a fearful tonic ! through 
 
 His vigorous frame the fury flew. 
 
 Of iron nerve, he seemed to stand 
 
 Invincible, with clenched hand, 
 
 And lips compressed, and eyes aglow 
 
 With angry fires ; then to and fro 
 
 His chamber paced. Not more enraged, 
 
 The jungle tiger, captured, caged 
 
 By bars invisible. 
 
 " A fate 
 He scorns, doth Oxac meekly wait ? 
 Who stands ? Who ventures to fulfil 
 Designs resisted by his will ? " 
 The impious words were scarcely said, 
 When through an open window sped. 
 As answering all, in echoes low, 
 And sweet, and near, in rhythmic flow, 
 The breath of music, and the name 
 Of Oxac blent in proud acclaim. 
 
 " Thy realm is broad and fair. 
 
 Thy vassals sturdy and true ; 
 About thee is wrapped the odorous air, 
 And the skies above are blue. 
 We have heard the fame 
 Of thy mighty name 
 
1 8 ZULULU, 
 
 In our home by the far-away sea ; 
 Come we with greeting to thee — to thee, 
 Great Oxac." 
 
 Anear the window low he bent 
 His ear, to catch the wonderment. 
 
 " Thy heart is warm and bold, 
 
 Thy treasures gather no rust ; 
 Thy temple shrines are garnished with gold, 
 And thy gods are wise and just ; 
 We have heard the fame 
 Of thy mighty name 
 Sung by the shells of our sweet south sea. 
 Come we with greeting to thee — to thee, 
 
 Great Oxac." 
 
 The spellbound chief in attitude 
 
 Now upright stands — his brow bedewed 
 
 By sudden drops — his maddened soul, 
 
 As sprayed from God's baptismal bowl, 
 
 In reverent silence reconciled. 
 
 Subdued in spirit as a child. 
 
 His evil mood had taken flight 
 
 And left him in a strange delight. 
 
 His good stout heart, in weak amaze. 
 
 Quite vanquished by the breath of praise. 
 
 " Thy hand is strong and brave, 
 
 It gathereth fame from far ; 
 Thy praises are echoed in coral cave. 
 
 And sung in the morning star. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 1 9 
 
 'T is a deathless song, 
 
 We have heard it long ; 
 For it floateth o'er mountain and sea ; 
 Bring we a greeting — a message to thee, 
 
 Great Oxac." 
 
 Within the palace Oxac brought 
 His courtly visitors, and wrought 
 Prompt hospitality and fair, 
 With princely hand, and gracious air 
 To greatness native, and with few 
 But fitting words of welcome true 
 To promptings of his noble breast, 
 Allured to banqueting and rest. 
 
 In audience-hall wide-walled, ornate, 
 On rich official chair of state 
 Bright-canopied and many-staired, 
 Next morn sat Oxac. Thence repaired 
 The strange ambassadors, low bent. 
 In mien and posture reverent, 
 By choicest phrase well taught to bear 
 Their royal message. Otherwhere 
 Seemed Oxac's thought, and yet he gave 
 A courteous ear. 
 
 The architrave 
 Of soul is sense — it must be so ; 
 To see, to hear, is not to Jznow ; 
 The tongue may prattle many a day 
 When soul is silent or away ; 
 Sense answers to the fingerings 
 Of trifiers ; 't is the soul that sings. 
 
20 ZULULU, 
 
 The royal message Oxac heard 
 
 Like one who dreams ; each tone and word, 
 
 O'erfull of meaning vague, or good 
 
 Or ill, not clearly understood. 
 
 " Know thou, great Oxac, that our king — 
 Good Kayi," — he who beareth sway 
 Throughout Xibalba,'^" found one day, 
 
 Enshrined with many a rare forgotten thing. 
 
 An ancient record — linking thee and thine 
 
 To sires illustrious of his royal line. 
 
 " And ye are kinsmen ; it is well. 
 
 We come to ask for Kayi's son 
 
 A wife — so doth our business run, 
 Directed by Xibalba's oracle. 
 The gods inspire thy words, that we may bring 
 A swift and gracious answer to our king," 
 
 Then followed silence. Never fear 
 
 Twitched Oxac's lip, or shook his knee, 
 
 Yet his great heart stood still to hear 
 
 The answer. " Time — a little time," quoth he, 
 
 " To speak the destinies of lives and states. 
 
 Noble ambassadors, my answer waits." 
 
 In Oxac's garden was a spot 
 
 Cool-curtained from the tiresome day ; 
 Retiring thither, sometimes he forgot 
 
 The world without — Zululu at her play 
 Beside him. To this solitude, apart 
 He turned with measured steps and troubled heart. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 21 
 
 Hour after hour alone with thought 
 He lingered. " Why doth Kayi seek 
 
 Alliance that with flattery could be bought ? 
 And what can claim of kinship else bespeak ? 
 
 A true nobility from self must spring ; 
 
 Linked to old royalty makes no man king. 
 
 " Xibalba, queen of tropic lands — 
 
 My fathers sailed the summer seas 
 That flung their pearls into her rosy hands ; 
 
 A haughty beauty decked with brilliancies, 
 Yet strong she was, and is ; — wives are there none 
 In all her glittering courts for Kayi's son ? " 
 
 " The son, who to his father's throne 
 Will come with rounded fame and age — 
 
 What then ? Zululu queen ! O thought o'ergrown ! 
 I doubt me much, this seemly embassage. 
 
 And yet — this doubt were better than the bane 
 
 A foolish dream hath mixed for heart and brain. 
 
 " Perchance I wrong the king, the state, 
 Myself, my child, by doubts unkind ; 
 
 Ungenerous judgments dwell not with the great ; 
 Suspicion speaks a littleness of mind. 
 
 Why should I meet with a reluctant frown. 
 
 To my sweet child the proffer of a crown ? 
 
 " Yet, O my child ! my child ! what words 
 
 Thy father speaks in vexed hours ! 
 Could I but keep the with the springtime birds 
 
 Nor ever miss thee from thy native bowers ! 
 
22 ZUL UL U, 
 
 When life's dull afternoon grows shadowy, 
 And chill lips from the unknown whisper me, 
 
 " How shall I stretch my trembling hands, 
 
 And strain my weary eyes in vain ! 
 O frenzied brain by flattery's breezes fanned ! 
 
 Cruel, in cup of gold, the draught of pain ! 
 A father's love by glory's glare beguiled — 
 Away ambition ! give me back my child ! " 
 
 " Look, father ; will it die ? alas 
 
 My pretty bird you shall not die ! 
 Good Zinco'^^ found it fluttering in the grass 
 
 And in his warm hands let its feathers dry — 
 But still it will not sing — it will not eat ! " 
 So stormed the chattering maid Oxac's retreat. 
 
 " Zululu : come to me ! yes — no — 
 
 Ah, well, the bird — what did you ask ? " 
 
 "Good Zinco " — but the chieftain thundered, "Go! " 
 And spurned the trembling slave back to his task, 
 
 Then to Zululu, half impatiently, 
 
 " See you ! the bird is dead — throw it away ! " 
 
 From that same hour was Oxac changed. 
 His daughter — not from her estranged — 
 He held her with a father's pride ; 
 But like the ashes of his bride 
 Love casketed, were thus laid by 
 The tenderness of tone and eye, 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC, 23 
 
 Endearing word, and warm caress ; 
 It was not that he loved her less — 
 His " gracious answer " had been won, 
 And she was pledged to Kayi's son. 
 
 To train his heart, that it might grow 
 By fixed gradations to the woe 
 Of final loss, to be most just 
 Toward one for whom he held in trust 
 His child — no longer all his own, 
 His life took on a sterner tone ; 
 Thus, when his face a sadness wore, 
 She could not charm him as before, 
 With pretty prattle, wondering " why." 
 The light was kindly in his eye. 
 But seemed as coming from afar, 
 Unsympathetic as a star 
 Whose silvery beams with promise rife, 
 Shine on, but warm not into life. 
 
 Those moods her arts could not dispel 
 
 Cast shadows which about her fell, 
 
 And followed to the woodsy shade. 
 
 Where lone and silent she would braid 
 
 Her autumn flowers — no longer bright ; 
 
 Through tears they seemed as touched with blight. 
 
 But when they faded, and the days 
 
 Grew dismal in their dumb amaze, 
 
 Zululu was not loath to cast 
 
 Her cheerless sports into the past. 
 
 What seasons chased away her spring ! 
 
24 ZULULU, 
 
 Betrothed, and to a future king, 
 Was fitness needful, and a school 
 Of lengthened term and rigid rule. 
 What heavy counsels for her ear ! 
 What stern commands, what tasks severe 
 For little hands unused to aught 
 Save ministries to childish thought ! 
 Yet must the pretty princess prove 
 Worthy a royal husband's love. 
 With character well poised, and full 
 Of modest virtues, dutiful, 
 Low-voiced and gentle, cultured, kind, 
 With dignity of mien and mind." 
 
 Her fingers must be taught to wed 
 Their cunning to the silken thread, 
 To weave with patient toil and care, 
 In many a bold device, and rare, 
 Xibalba's banner ; for her lord. 
 With glittering gems, and golden cord 
 His nuptial robe. 
 
 But will she spin 
 Love's feathery thread ? and broider in 
 With dimpled fingers, birds and flowers — 
 The dew and sunshine of glad hours. 
 Bright hopes and rosy dreams ? Perchance ; 
 For childhood is life's sweet romance. 
 
 The seasons slowly came and went — 
 Zululu, on her tasks intent. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 25 
 
 Gave little heed, but 'neath the eyes 
 
 Of Bacca," set to supervise 
 
 Her education, sped away 
 
 From childhood artless, free, and gay, 
 
 To graver realm — to womanhood. 
 
 While lightly on the threshold stood 
 
 Her guileless feet. 
 
 Yet more she wrought 
 Than robe and banner. Love untaught. 
 Propelled the shuttle of her thought 
 Which through her soul bright-winged flew, 
 Till fancy's light creation grew 
 A grand ideal at whose shrine 
 A white life knelt with gift divine, 
 Her maiden love. 
 
 All virtues bore 
 The name of Kaska.*** Unaware 
 She prayed to him, but One who wore 
 A radiant countenance, bent o'er 
 The hills of light and heard her prayer. 
 Her thoughts sometimes took voice, and trilled 
 A tuneful measure, and so filled 
 The hours with music, that the day 
 Though wearisome, soon stole away, 
 
 " Through and through, through and through, 
 
 Polished needle, thread of blue : — 
 
 Aye, sweet bird, I hear thy song, 
 
 But my task is long, so long ! 
 
 This a royal robe must be — 
 
 Some one waits for me. 
 
26 ZULULU. 
 
 " Through and through, through and through, 
 Every color, every hue 
 Copied from the sunset skies ; 
 Will it glad his gracious eyes, 
 That this border is so fair. 
 Fringed with jewels rare ? 
 
 " Through and through, through and through, 
 Every loop and stitch so true ! 
 Will he love me long and well ? 
 How can little maiden tell ? 
 Words — I know not what they mean — 
 ' Kaska's bride and queen.' 
 
 " Through and through, through and through, 
 Every hour some tinting new 
 Floats into the web I weave. 
 Shall Zululu joy or grieve, 
 That she is a little bride, 
 Knowing naught beside ? 
 
 " Through and through, through and through, 
 Twist the roseate with the blue ; 
 Can a little maiden rest 
 Lovingly upon his breast ? 
 Trustfully ? it must be so — 
 Aye, it must be so." 
 
CANTO III. 
 
 XIBALBA. 
 
 AT rest, two tropic seas between, 
 On flowery couch o'erarched with sheen, 
 Her language love, her breath the breeze 
 Perfumed from groves of spiceries — 
 Xibalba this, whose shores of green 
 Beyond the billowy waste were seen 
 By Votan," who one elder day 
 Came hither with benignant sway. 
 And long his chosen people led — 
 The mighty Mayas. 
 
 Far outspread 
 Usumasinta's " fertile vale, 
 Where marvels of an oldtime tale 
 Were born, matured, grew old and died. 
 Where rose the city of his pride 
 Nachan ^'' luxurious, built to brave 
 The dust of ages o'er her grave 
 Slow sifting. 
 
 From that ancient seat 
 Of culture curiously complete. 
 Sprang many a Maya ^® branch— from one 
 
 27 
 
28 ZULULU, 
 
 Was Kayi," an illustrious son 
 Of sires whose royal lineage ran 
 In line unbroken back to Chan.^" 
 Thus came to Kayi sovereignty 
 Of fair Xibalba. Wise was he, 
 His goodly kingdom ruling well 
 A score of Katun ^' years, when fell 
 A shadow clouding heart and mind 
 With apprehensions undefined. 
 
 As once he slept, strange whispers stole 
 
 Quite through the portal of the soul 
 
 And woke him trembling. Armed and starred. 
 
 About him stood his trusty guard — 
 
 Yet scarcely were his fears dispelled. 
 
 Thenceforth was doubly sentineled 
 
 His palace chamber. Ill at ease, 
 
 He dreamed of bold conspiracies 
 
 By day and night. Sometimes in guise 
 
 Of stupid slave, with downcast eyes. 
 
 And clumsy tread, and shoulders bent 
 
 With drudgery and discontent. 
 
 He threaded crowded thoroughfares ; 
 
 Or, trafficking his paltry wares, 
 
 Long loitering in the market-place, 
 
 A trader garrulous, the grace 
 
 Of barter bickerings he tried — 
 
 And now and then he would deride 
 
 King Kayi — sometimes praise, the while 
 
 He marked the answering frown or smile. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 29 
 
 O'erwearied, Kayi sought one day 
 
 The grove's seclusion ; as he lay 
 
 Cool pillowed on perpetual green, 
 
 God's blessed curtains drawn between 
 
 Himself and feverish cares, he slept — 
 
 Yet wakefuUy — so constant kept 
 
 His ear its well set watch. What feet 
 
 Are those approaching his retreat — 
 
 Near, nearer, and with what intent ? 
 
 'T were well thick covert boughs low bent 
 
 Forbade their glossy leaves to part. 
 
 Above the beating of his heart 
 
 The wretched king his name o'erheard 
 
 In parable, with smothered word, 
 
 And unfledged phrases in the dark 
 
 111 born, hushed voices hoarse and stark, 
 
 Some dreadful purpose making known 
 
 By passion's murderous monotone. 
 
 A quick discernment fear bestows ; 
 
 King Kayi recognized his foes. 
 
 Could call their names, their leader learned ; 
 
 'T w^as he whose soul for vengeance burned, 
 
 The old-time rebel, false Tetan,'" 
 
 Once chieftain of a powerful clan 
 
 In distant province. Years before 
 
 His neck he bent, but ever wore 
 
 The yoke defiantly. He knew 
 
 Tetan, and all, but deathly dew 
 
 By utter anguish quick distilled. 
 
 His brow o'erspread ; his life-blood chilled. 
 
30 ZULULU, 
 
 Forgot its speed from heart to brain. 
 Alas the blow that deadens pain ! 
 That voice was Kaska's very own ! 
 His son was plotting for the throne ! 
 
 King Kayi spoke his fears to none, 
 But carefully observed his son, 
 While day by day confirmed his fears. 
 Young Kaska, grown beyond his years, 
 Had princely presence, and a face 
 Of manly beauty, with the grace 
 Of youthful valor. In a mould 
 Unblemished, dwelt his spirit bold. 
 Aggressive, restless, desperate 
 For that wild draught supposed to sate 
 The thirst for glory. 
 
 With what bands 
 We seek to bind the lawless hands 
 Of mad ambition stretched above 
 The healthful bounds of light and love 
 To pluck the stars, a name to win ! 
 The fierceness of the fire within — 
 Who lit it knows. The same who moves 
 Contented souls in quiet grooves 
 Of small desires. The strong, swift wing 
 Of pride — the feeble fluttering 
 Of innate gentleness, confuse 
 Our faulty judgments ; but He views 
 With equal eye, the eternal strife 
 Of matter pulsing with a life 
 Uncomprehended. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 3 1 
 
 Late returned 
 Was Kaska, from a tribe that spurned 
 Control ; commissioned by the king 
 To quell rebellion and to bring 
 Victorious peace — commissioned, since 
 For service bold the restless prince 
 Was fitted. Many a field is lost 
 We fancied won — so great its cost ! 
 
 Himself a traitor, Kaska chose 
 Alliance with his country's foes ; 
 He sought the ear of old Tetan, 
 Well pleased to find him with his clan 
 All couchant for a deadly spring 
 Into the palace of the king ! 
 But Kaska counselled brief delays. 
 And fed the fires forbade to blaze 
 Untimely. 
 
 In the court he knew 
 Were those, a despicable few 
 Whom bribes could buy, and those he bought— 
 Yet inly scorned them. Then bethought 
 How good Oribo ^^ might be won, 
 Oribo, Kayi's younger son. 
 Whom all men loved ; not Kaska's peer 
 In lordly mien, and acts severe. 
 But comely, straight and tall he stood 
 Like some young cedar of the wood. 
 Sure promise of a giant good. 
 Than Kaska, by twelve rounded moons 
 The younger — but unequal noons 
 
32 ZULULU, 
 
 They neared ; one dazzled — one was fair. 
 For Kaska with the very air 
 Of childhood strange delirium drew ; 
 Two brothers, side by side they grew ; 
 Two natures, ever drawn apart. 
 
 Staunch virtues flourished in the heart 
 
 Of young Oribo. Brave at need. 
 
 He scorned a mean or cruel deed ; 
 
 He would not smite a wretch in thrall, 
 
 Nor shoot a bird to see it fall 
 
 With dripping breast and broken wing, 
 
 Because it was a helpless thing. 
 
 No greed had he for power or fame ; 
 
 With gentle actions graced his name ; 
 
 So true to self, the gods, the state, 
 
 Upright, symmetrical, ornate 
 
 Of character, without offence, 
 
 A very type of excellence. 
 
 It troubled Kaska, how to speak 
 Base purposes to one whose cheek 
 No crimeful breath had ever kissed ; 
 Whose clear, calm eye, above the mist 
 That clings to sordid lives, could scan 
 Unshamed the face of heaven and man. 
 
 Beneath the palms one eventide. 
 The prince approached his brother's side 
 So quietly, the quivering blooms 
 Half coyly yielded their perfumes. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 33 
 
 Oribo, with a pleased surprise 
 Gave greeting. Royal courtesies 
 Were Kaska's due — his future king 
 Who soon to his estate would bring 
 A lovely bride. Yet not a thought 
 Of envy with his fealty wrought. 
 
 " Nay, gentle brother, sit. From thee 
 I ask not homage ; let me share 
 Thy quiet hour, and this sweet air 
 
 That comes with cooling from the sea. 
 
 " For wearied am I, and my brain 
 Much heated by the glare of day. 
 While heavy thoughts my spirits weigh." 
 
 "Would I might ease a brother's pain." 
 
 " Thou canst, Oribo. In the chase 
 To-day — whate'er its meaning be — 
 A wounded rabbit fled to me.^* 
 
 My bosom gave it hiding-place. 
 
 " Would'st thou have sheltered it ? Say not, 
 I know thou wouldst — yet hear me more : 
 A hunted buck which fled before 
 
 His fierce pursuers, reached a spot 
 
 He could not scale. 
 
 O then to see 
 His desperate valor ! what a fight 
 He made for life ! say, was it right 
 
 To plead his cause, and set him free ? 
 
34 zuLuLU, 
 
 " Nay, answer not — full well I know 
 The language of thy noble breast ; 
 Thyself wouldst plead for the oppressed. 
 
 Nor yield him to a deadly foe. 
 
 " Aye, good Oribo, thou would'st save, 
 Spare, and set free the hunted beast. 
 Pour out thy pity for the least — 
 But if a wounded warrior brave, 
 Enslaved with all his gallant clan. 
 
 And crushed to earth, and if thy hand 
 
 " Say on, I do not understand." 
 
 " Dost know the chieftain, brave Tetan ? 
 He pleads for liberty in vain ; 
 
 The king is cruel, will not heed ; 
 
 The gods forsake us in our need 
 If we break not the old man's chain ! " 
 
 " Hold, Kaska ! What ? Thy rash words scare 
 My senses hence. The king is wise — 
 Gods ! there is madness in thine eyes ! 
 
 Thy thought is treason ! O beware ! " 
 
 No further parley Kaska made ; 
 
 He clapped his hands, and from the shade 
 
 Of tree, and shrub, and fountain spray. 
 
 And wandering vines in evening's gray 
 
 Clad spectral, murderous minions sprang 
 
 Upon Oribo. Soon the clang 
 
 Of conflict through the city rang — 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 35 
 
 And Kaska's voice inspired it all. 
 
 *' On, on ! " — the palace ramparts fall. 
 
 They leap the moat, they scale the wall, 
 
 Those wild red demons of revolt. 
 
 They burst the door with beamy bolt, 
 
 And surging in like waves of doom. 
 
 With Kayi's blood they flood his room. 
 
 Their weapons, as with frenzy rife. 
 
 In savage greed hew out his life ; 
 
 And none essayed to stay a blade, 
 
 So basely was the king betrayed, 
 
 And so atrociously was slain ! 
 
 'T is said old ruins still retain " 
 
 A crimson record of the crime ; 
 
 Deeds set in blood blush on through time. 
 
 A DIRGE. 
 
 O what a piteous thing 
 
 Is a dead king ! 
 Come gaze upon him, ye who yesterday 
 Prostrate approached, come near and lay 
 
 Your hands upon his head. 
 
 And look into his eyes — 
 Left open when in wild surprise, 
 Frighted, his great soul fled ! 
 For this your king, Kayi the wise, 
 Is dead. 
 
 Sweet winds, ye need not now 
 So fan his brow — 
 
36 ZULULU, 
 
 Too chill already is it for a crown 
 Of earthly honor and renown — 
 
 Too marred by treachery. 
 
 His good right hand is cold, 
 So cold it can no longer hold 
 A little sovereignty ; 
 King Kayi this, the wise, the bold — 
 'T is he. 
 
 How pallid is his cheek ! 
 
 He does not speak — 
 Too palsied is his tongue, to speak his will ; 
 His pulses rest, his heart is still, 
 
 His dull eye nothing sees — 
 
 It will not wake nor weep ; 
 These ghastly wounds, so red and deep, 
 Are painless all — and these 
 Are they that brought him sleep 
 And ease. 
 
 Alas, how small a space 
 
 Gives greatness place ! 
 Muffle your voices, birds and purling streams, 
 Withdraw, O moon, your mellow beams ; 
 
 Let clouds the heaven o'erspread, 
 
 And flowers refuse to bloom 
 For very woe, upon his tomb. 
 For whom we love is dead. 
 Ye gods, make swift the traitor's doom 
 And dread. 
 

 CANTO IV. 
 
 KASKA. 
 
 IN purpose, power. He does who wills. 
 ■* So men are gods ; so fate fulfils 
 The soul's own prophecy ; so rise 
 Earth ladders to meridian skies. 
 And builders, with but human hands, 
 Are toiling up from table-lands 
 Of common good, to dizzy heights 
 Where meteors flash uncertain lights 
 On mortal names. Or high, or low, 
 Make sure, O builder, as you go 
 That every round is strong and true ! 
 Build well — none else can build for you. 
 
 The logic of the eye defies 
 Deduction ethical and wise. 
 That good is beauty, beauty good. 
 Men ever best have understood 
 Bright object-lessons — bowed the head 
 To beauty — quite apart, unwed 
 To worth. 
 
 Young Kaska were a king 
 Though from ambition's poisoned spring 
 37 
 
38 ZULULU, 
 
 Quaffed every power of soul and brain ! 
 As foremost on the battle plain 
 With plumed crest and stout cuirass ^^ 
 What legions fell to let him pass ! 
 His black eye flashing, and his foot 
 As fleet as arrow bade to shoot 
 A bird on wing ; his colors set 
 In web of crimson, gold, and jet, 
 He swept the land from coast to coast, 
 Xibalba's terror, pride, and boast. 
 
 Anon the bold revolt was o'er, 
 
 And Kayi's son in triumph wore 
 
 The crown by treachery achieved. 
 
 If any for the old king grieved. 
 
 Though dumb his woe, yet Kaska's glance 
 
 Was keener than his battle lance 
 
 To pierce the heart ! he naught would brook 
 
 Of olden loyalty, by look. 
 
 Or reverent tone that touched the name, 
 
 Or loving sigh, or flush of shame 
 
 For treason's triumph — naught. 
 
 And yet 
 Whom love hath crowned is sovereign. Let 
 The kingdom quake, his throne is sure — 
 For virtue builds of granite pure 
 That cannot crumble ! Love ! O what 
 Enshrines like love and wearies not 
 With ceaseless vigils ? 
 
 Kaska sought 
 The seizure of all loyal thought, 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 39 
 
 Himself was king in Kayi's stead. 
 
 For good Oribo, if one said 
 
 " Alas ! " and dropped his eyes, 't were best 
 
 Unmarked by Kaska in whose breast 
 
 Dwelt jealous hate that smote the lips 
 
 Of pity, when the red eclipse 
 
 Which swept Xibalba's sun from sight 
 
 Gave Kaska day, Oribo night. 
 
 A night of servitude than death 
 
 More dread ; for what avails the breath 
 
 That feeds not life, but quickens pain 
 
 And lengthens woe ? The scorn, the chain, 
 
 The drudgery that day by day 
 
 Unnerves the man and wears away 
 
 His spirit, till it beats no more 
 
 With bruised wing its dungeon door — 
 
 Such was the cruel fate decreed 
 
 For good Oribo. None might plead 
 
 For him, when maddened Kaska cried 
 
 *' Away ! " and spurned him from his side. 
 
 The slave of old Tetan, whose blade 
 
 Red dripping, told the price he paid ! 
 
 How tranquil is the tropic sky 
 When once the tempest has gone by ! 
 What gentle breezes lull the deep 
 When sobbing waves are recked to sleep ! 
 So when her civil storm was spent. 
 Peace arched Xibalba's firmament 
 And hope was in the new-wrought span. 
 
40 ZUL UL U, 
 
 The patriot lives in many a man 
 
 Before his mighty soul is tried 
 
 By bribes and fears. From every side 
 
 They thronged the new-made king about, 
 
 And " Long live Kaska ! " rose the shout 
 
 That spoke him great ! The hero takes 
 
 Complexion from his deeds. Who makes 
 
 A record for historic pen 
 
 In black, or white, must dip his pen. 
 
 The conflict o'er, luxurious ease 
 
 The new king sought ; whate'er could please 
 
 His senses, what his pride could feed, 
 
 He summoned with a tyrant's greed ; 
 
 Refitted with peculiar care 
 
 His palace home ; with carvings rare," 
 
 Renewed each pier and court fa9ade ; 
 
 With rich mosaics all inlaid 
 
 The spacious ceilings, walls, and floors ; 
 
 The lintels of its twoscore doors, 
 
 And double cornices embossed — 
 
 And all with master skill reglossed ; 
 
 Festooned his many royal rooms 
 
 With arras from the choicest looms ; 
 
 With sweeter fragrance, brighter flowers. 
 
 Voluptuous made his garden bowers ; 
 
 Cool fountains for his pleasure played — 
 
 To charm him, many an iris made 
 
 From showering spray when skies were blue 
 
 And sunshine softly filtered through. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC, 4 1 
 
 Within, without, around, complete, 
 The city's pride, the acknowledged seat 
 Of power supreme, the palace stood 
 On old foundation strong and good, 
 Built up by Maya skill and might, 
 A marvel on her terraced height 
 Of solid grandeur, with a throne 
 The young imperial called his own. 
 
 To wait the coming of his bride 
 Sore vexed the king, yet must he bide 
 The fixed formalities of state, 
 Unchallenged as the voice of fate. 
 Betrothal bound, not his the power 
 To change, or speed the happy hour 
 By Oxac named. His restless eye 
 Would chase that laggard from the sky, 
 The cold-faced moon, whose silvery feet 
 Paced off slow months ! O most unmeet 
 His hand to cull the loveliest flower 
 E'er coveted for royal bower ! 
 
 To somewhat bate his discontent, 
 A courtly embassy he sent 
 To Oxac, bearing lavish praise 
 And costly gifts, in fitting phrase 
 His sturdy favor to bespeak 
 With Kaska's greeting, and to seek 
 How fared Zululu — and to free 
 Xibalba's bird of prophecy 
 Within her chamber. 
 
42 ZULULU, 
 
 With a cry 
 Of sudden terror should it fly 
 Away, the omen were of ill ; 
 If haply, with melodious trill 
 Should sing as in its native wood, 
 'T were well — an augury of good. 
 Where lies in man the boundary line 
 Between the human and divine, 
 Both having place and unison 
 In form earth-wrought, and breathed upon 
 By God ? Yet dust is only dust ! 
 A clayey casket which the rust 
 Of time eats through — the body is ; 
 And life is life — eternity's 
 Co-equal. Thought that spurns control, — 
 Each aspiration of the soul 
 Is God-ward, though its flight be low : 
 And Kaska, seeking long ago 
 To read the book which God had sealed, 
 To comprehend the unrevealcd. 
 To grasp what hung beyond his reach, 
 To learn what angels might not teach 
 Of love's to-morrow, stretched his hands 
 Through oracles of olden lands 
 Toward one Omnipotent ! Thus hies 
 All soul-life toward its native skies ! 
 Whatever form its faith may wear. 
 Through rudest rites or worship fair 
 The spirit feeling after God 
 Shall find Him. 
 
CANTO V. 
 
 PORTENTS. 
 
 T^HE land of Oxac was at rest ; 
 ■'• The bow of peace from crest to crest 
 Of guardian mountains stretched across. 
 The summer, that with green, and gloss, 
 And shower and sunshine banished doubt, 
 Now bade the ripening maize fling out 
 His silky tresses, bade the vine 
 Fill all his cluster cups with wine 
 So pure and sweet an angel's lip 
 Might press their purple rims and sip. 
 
 The chieftain saw with honest pride 
 How thrived his realm. On every side 
 Brown hands were building strong and straight 
 In peace, the bulwarks of the state. 
 Old science, freed from civic jars. 
 Explored the skies, and read the stars — 
 Art hastening with his axe and block 
 To fix the record into rock. 
 Reaped industries an hundred-fold ; 
 They opened hill-side doors for gold, 
 43 
 
44 ZULULU, 
 
 And wrought in woods and metals pure 
 A curious nomenclature. 
 
 The husbandman from varied fields 
 Full harvests gathered ; luscious yields 
 Of orchard fruitage plucked, and brown 
 Abundance from the groves shook down. 
 Broad commerce held imperial place ; 
 Old scars were on his lifted face 
 But healthful currents from his heart 
 Made vital every village mart." 
 
 The warrior brave, to join the chase 
 Had noble leisure ; in the face 
 Of beauty gazing, might forget 
 His hideous war-cry and reset 
 His tongue to tenderness, and prove 
 How valorous natures yield to love. 
 Yet were his battle-axe and bow 
 At hand, and fit ; no stealthy foe 
 Should find unmanned his dusky arm, 
 His ear untuned to wars alarm. 
 
 So like an eagle bathed in light. 
 Clear visioned gazing from far height. 
 His strong wing folded ; though at rest, 
 Brave guardian of his high-hung nest 
 Dwelt Oxac, and his borders kept 
 With vigilance which never slept. 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 45 
 
 Like maddened wolves athirst for blood, 
 Impelled by famine, frost, and flood 
 From northern regions to a zone 
 Of warmth and beauty erst unknown, 
 A-near in threatening tides, down poured 
 The hungry, devastating horde. 
 As old-time sea-kings roamed the main, 
 So they the forest, vale, and plain, 
 With sweep as terrible, for they 
 Were near of kin ere seas made way 
 Between the continents for doubt 
 And washed their former footprints out. 
 
 They ranged the land from sea to sea, 
 The north wind not more wild and free ; 
 In woods primeval sometimes lost. 
 Their pathless wanderings led or crossed 
 By angry streams, whose liquid dark, 
 Swift dimpled by the birchen bark, 
 Delayed them not ; a stealthy foe 
 Whose savage whoop and camp-fire's glow 
 Knew all the wooded wilderness, 
 Yet knowing, many a dark recess 
 Of thickest green she wove for them 
 From clambering vine, and stalwart stem, 
 And low-set shrub— from whence the flash 
 Of glittering eyes, the yell, the crash 
 Of cruel weapon, oft bespoke 
 Some hapless hunter's fate, and woke 
 With orgies dread the slumberous night.'' 
 Ferocious in their untamed might. 
 
4.6 ZULULU, 
 
 Long tutored to a strange unrest, 
 
 They went and came, annoyed and pressed 
 
 The frontiers of Oxac's domains. 
 
 Once and again the lowland plains 
 Had drunk of savage blood, and fed 
 The fierce-fanged ocelot with their dead. 
 In sanguine struggle oft renewed 
 Though beaten back — still unsubdued. 
 The warrior chief of Iztapec 
 But held his ugly foe in check ! 
 
 The air was full of nameless fears ; 
 Drew on the " binding of the years," 
 The cycle's close. What dreams of blood, 
 Disaster, pestilence and flood, 
 Eclipse and earthquake, near and dread, 
 Great Oxac's soul disquieted ! 
 
 One evening on his couch he lay, 
 Not restfully — the cares of day 
 Projected shadows on his hour 
 Of quietude ; some troublous power 
 Had stirred his spirit's customed calm. 
 In vain the eve with hush and balm 
 Low breathed her benediction fair 
 O'er troubled brow and silvery hair. 
 
 Fatigued, disheartened, and perplexed 
 By problems intricate, and vexed 
 By border bands who dared — but fled 
 His vengeance long provoked, he led 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC, 47 
 
 His ready braves in troubled thought, 
 And fought, yet all unconquering, fought. 
 
 Then too — and though he closed his eyes 
 And sought to deem them phantasies, 
 Yet had he marked a bodeful thing — 
 The battle birds were gathering " ; 
 All day, in mid-air poised — at eve 
 Their sable wings did southward cleave 
 The gloaming ! plenteous, warm, and red, 
 Their dreadful banquet shall be spread ! 
 Unwonted tremors mocked his might, 
 And Oxac sickened at the sight. 
 
 But more : Xibalba's messengers 
 
 Had come and gone : through silver firs, 
 
 Down pleasant slopes by windings fair, 
 
 Came back on evening's quiet air 
 
 The echoes of outgoing feet. 
 
 But Oxac's fancies were more fleet. 
 
 More prompt at Kaska's court than they 
 
 With doubtful tidings, for no lay 
 
 Of nuptial bliss their strange bird sang. 
 
 But shrieked until the chamber rang 
 
 With terror, and Zululu fled 
 
 To Oxac's arms — her shining head 
 
 Half hidden on his breast, while tears 
 
 Bedewed the hopes of coming years ! 
 
 Wore on the night, yet came not sleep 
 To Oxac. Through the starry deep 
 
48 ZUL UL u, 
 
 Looked down the gods with eyes malign, 
 Perchance for some neglected shrine I 
 O'er Luna in her fleecy dress 
 Forth on her round of nothingness 
 In space, the wild winds flung a cloud 
 Surcharged with tempest, near and loud. 
 Stood up against the piney hills 
 The solemn temple ; awful wills 
 Wrought in the elements, the breeze 
 Quick maddened, shook the towers and trees 
 Until they trembled for their hold 
 On granite base and hill-side mould. 
 Down swirled the storm king in his ire, 
 With tones of wrath, and breath of fire, 
 And hand swift sowing rain and hail, 
 While black wings brooded all the vale. 
 
 But Oxac heeded not ; by thought 
 Tempestuous was his mind distraught. 
 A half-forgotten dream awoke — 
 The oracle which ill bespoke 
 Zululu's fortune and his own 
 Again he heard ! again was thrown 
 Athwart his soul the dark distrust, 
 Defiance of the gods unjust ! 
 He cursed the oracle of old, 
 Xibalba's bird, with wings of gold 
 And throat of venom. 
 
 With the dawn 
 He slumbered. All the storm was gone 
 When late he wakened. Some intent 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 49 
 
 Had shaped into a deed. Forth sent 
 The chieftain for Zululu. What 
 His undeveloped purpose, not 
 A sign betrayed ; his look was cold 
 And resolute, his step was bold, 
 As to and fro he paced his hall, 
 Now listening for the gentle fall 
 Of gentle feet somewhat delayed, 
 Perchance to bind a glossy braid 
 About her brow, or to express 
 By nice adjustment of her dress 
 Her nature's sweeter harmonies ; 
 Perchance — but possibilities 
 Take wing, as on his ears — 
 
 " O chief, 
 The gods this mystery make brief ; 
 Zululu's room is empty, still — 
 Her presence answers not thy will ! " 
 So spake the messenger aghast 
 With terror. 
 
 Fingers chill clutched fast 
 The heart of Oxac, and he stood 
 Like one bewildered in a wood, 
 Scarce knowing that himself were he ; 
 Yet soon awoke the energy 
 Of conscious strength, which scorned to yield 
 One foot of any battle-field. 
 The guards their wonted posts had held. 
 The city well was sentinelled. 
 Nor gate, nor street, nor corridor 
 Unkept amid the crash and war 
 
50 ZULULU, 
 
 That filled the air with deafening sound, 
 And shook the palace, drenched the ground, 
 Poured torrents down the mountain path 
 And smote the temple in their wrath. 
 . And yet were demons of the night 
 In league with the mysterious flight 
 Of fair Zululu and her maid ! 
 
 The fragrant breath of morning swayed 
 
 The drapery of her chamber charmed 
 
 By soft confusion, and alarmed 
 
 By feet unwonted ; on the floor 
 
 The pretty veil Zululu wore 
 
 When summoned by the chief to meet 
 
 The embassy ; a garland sweet, 
 
 But slowly fading, grieved away 
 
 Its little life, and near it lay 
 
 A coronal of pearls, the gift 
 
 Of Kaska ; on her couch a drift 
 
 Of gorgeous stuffs, in gold and green, 
 
 And crimson, and in azure sheen 
 
 Her light apparel for the days 
 
 Delicious, when the sunshine plays 
 
 With dewy sweetness. 
 
 O to come 
 Within a room where nought is dumb, 
 And everything says " Gone ! " Aye, more, 
 Says " Gone — we know not whence ! " The lore 
 Of anguish this, the choke-damp air 
 Of desolation and despair ! 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC, 5 
 
 There are who live, not knowing why, 
 Or how, save that they cannot die ! 
 There are, who suffer grief and loss — 
 Great souls, whom tempests beat and toss 
 But cannot sink ; who ply the oar, 
 Their compass keep, and make the shore ! 
 And such seemed Oxac. 
 
 Who endures 
 With courage what he must, half cures 
 His pain, grows strong, and speeds his night 
 By counting stars that give him light. 
 
 Within the palace and without 
 Each nook was searched, in and about 
 Guards stationed. Through the city sped 
 The tidings swift, because so dread. 
 All day the fruitless search was pressed, 
 The sacred shrines anew were dressed, 
 And Oxac, humbled to the dust, 
 Implored the gods he deemed unjust. 
 
 What flashed the fancy on his brain 
 
 That checked his prayer ? His bosom's pain, 
 
 In momentary frenzy died ! 
 
 He called a chosen few, and cried : 
 
 ** Pursue Xibalba's embassy ! 
 
 Bring back my stolen child to me ! " 
 
 No sooner heard their chief's command, 
 Than sprang to arms the honored band — 
 
;2 
 
 ZUL UL U. 
 
 Enthusiasts, by the gods endowed 
 With fateful zeal, the prompt and proud 
 Avengers of great Oxac's wrong ! 
 Amid the cheering of the throng 
 At set of sun they marched away, 
 Soon lost to sight in evening's gray. 
 
CANTO VI. 
 
 THE FLIGHT. 
 
 ' r^ OOD Bacca, courage ; like a reed 
 ^-^ Thou quakest ! wherefore ? for our need 
 
 The blue-eyed lightnings — how they play 
 
 Along our path ! A curious way — 
 
 I stumbled on it when a child, 
 
 Its very mystery beguiled 
 
 Me hither. Softly ! we are near 
 
 The low, dark entrance — do not fear 
 
 But follow." 
 
 'T was a granite hall, 
 Low-roofed and tortuous, floor and wall 
 The gods well laid, what time was hewn 
 The sacred chamber dim with rune 
 To which it led. 
 
 ^' Hold fast my hand 
 Good Bacca," with the sweet command 
 Zululu drew her on. Low bent. 
 On, through, and up the wild ascent 
 They groped their way into a night 
 Unmooned and starless ! Left and right 
 The passage broadened more and more, 
 53 
 
54 ZULULU, 
 
 The ceiling lifted from the floor, 
 Until they stood within a room 
 Capacious, hung with heavy gloom 
 And full of silence. Whispered low, 
 Zululu : 
 
 " Bacca, well I know 
 The god is here — I feel his breath 
 Upon my cheek ! 't is chill as death 
 Had touched his lips : — yet fear I not ; 
 To this secure but awesome spot 
 He well hath brought us — well will keep- 
 And he will give us rest and sleep." 
 
 Small service Bacca's to compose 
 
 Their scarlet cushions for repose, 
 
 To shake the royal mantle out 
 
 And wrap the pretty form about 
 
 And whisper *' Peace " — the good-night word 
 
 Zululu's ear had ever heard 
 
 Ere sleeping ; but as ne'er before 
 
 She caught the meaning which it bore — 
 
 A trustful calm — a full release 
 
 From wakeful woe — " Peace, Bacca, peace, 
 
 And restful slumbers." 
 
 Wearied they — 
 So long and rough had been their way. 
 With needful stores so laden ; rest 
 Came soon and sweet, beyond the quest 
 Of swift pursuit ; for none would brave 
 A near approach to Quizquo's"' cave ! 
 
THE' MAID OF ANAHUAC. 55 
 
 Far up the mountain's wooded side 
 There yawned a chasm deep and wide — 
 Weird antechamber of his hall ; 
 One only doorway, dim and small, 
 The dreadful god had left ajar," 
 Nor had it need of guard or bar 
 To halt unhallowed feet — he sent 
 So prompt and fierce a punishment. 
 
 About this cave with terrors fraught. 
 
 Old half forgotten legends wrought 
 
 With dim complexities of sense 
 
 Enduring ramparts of defence ; 
 
 What hunters over-venturesome 
 
 Who never from the chase had come ! 
 
 What chastisement for folly, borne ! 
 
 What fleeing shrivelled souls forsworn 
 
 Celestial good ! rash souls who tried 
 
 To push th' eternal doors aside. 
 
 To seek with avaricious eyes 
 
 The stores within his treasuries ! 
 
 Clouds, smoke, and earthquake scared the land 
 
 When Quizquo lit his awful brand 
 
 From Popocatepetl's fires, 
 
 And smote unnumbered bloody pyres. 
 
 Yet never had Zululu feared 
 The mountain god her faith revered, 
 The being whom her guileless sense 
 Had clothed with fair omnipotence. 
 A god all virtuous and wise 
 
56 ZULULU, 
 
 She saw him — never in disguise 
 
 So ugly as to fright away, 
 
 In visions or by night or day 
 
 Her sweetest thoughts of love and might. 
 
 She oft had listened with delight 
 
 The low-voiced winds and rippling streams, 
 
 His lullabies to charm her dreams, 
 
 And guide her through the mazy round 
 
 Of pilgrimage to holy ground. 
 
 She had a quiet, reverent trust 
 In Quizquo — she believed him just, 
 And therefore good ; instinctive took 
 Her gracious creed from Nature's book. 
 She knew that tiniest blossoms grew 
 Anear the chasm, all gemmed with dew. 
 And by divine afflation fed. 
 So strangely fair and perfected ! 
 And she had seen the song-bird swing 
 The feathery brake, and dip his wing 
 In brimming basins cool and brown 
 Where danced perpetual waters down 
 From hidden fountain ; she had heard 
 Soft harmonies as zephyrs stirred 
 Boughs amaranthine, to imbreathe 
 The shadowy silences beneath. 
 
 " He loves the birds, and flowers, and trees, 
 
 With all their fine affinities 
 
 For human souls — it must be true 
 
 He loves their friend Zululu too." 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 57 
 
 So when the bird with evil strain 
 Had burned into her throbbing brain 
 And smitten soul its withering 
 Of spring-time hopes, while that dull thing 
 The world calls " life " stretched on and on, 
 She knew not whither — lost in wan 
 To-morrows, shivering had she flown 
 The scene, and in her room alone 
 With Bacca, sought to burst the bands 
 Of anguish ; wrung her helpless hands 
 In reckless woe, and murmuring wept 
 Till slowly to his setting crept 
 The hazy sun. 
 
 Then like a flower 
 Grown strong 'neath heaven's baptismal shower 
 She dried her tears, stood up and said : 
 *' 'T is well — Zululu will not wed 
 Xibalba's king. Nay, do not chide — 
 No longer is this Kaska's bride, 
 But Oxac's daughter ! Mark her well 
 Good Bacca ; in her breast doth dwell 
 His stalwart soul ; her pulses thrill 
 Obedient to a master will — 
 Her grand inheritance. The past 
 How bright ! The future overcast 
 With clouds, the present full of pain, 
 Regrets, and longings, drenched with vain 
 And senseless tears which were beguiled 
 By sudden woe ! a chieftain's child, 
 I scorn them, and these southern gems ! 
 What were a thousand diadems 
 
58 ZULULU. 
 
 Paled with disaster, to a brow 
 Disquieted ? 
 
 The gods endow 
 True lives with suffering to invite 
 The soul to tempt a skyward flight 
 With strong, swift wing, though in the dark. 
 See ! shadows beckon, lightnings mark 
 Our pathway ; let us flee and hide. 
 Till Kaska shall forget his bride ! 
 Up, up the mountain's rugged side 
 Is Quizquo's cave — nay — start not thus ! 
 A god so great will care for us, 
 Since pitiful he is and good 
 To all the weaklings of the wood." 
 
 'T was thus Zululu won her maid 
 
 To service perilous, and stayed 
 
 Her fluttering heart, and sped the task 
 
 Of preparation. 'Neath the mask 
 
 Of friendly darkness, in disguise 
 
 They passed adown the galleries, 
 
 Like shapeless shadows, out, and through 
 
 The massive walls ! 
 
 Zululu knew 
 Where lay — his gray head in the dust — 
 A stone that late had fled his trust 
 And left an opening near the ground ; 
 With careful stilly search she found 
 The portal which no sentry kept, 
 And through it unperceived they crept. 
 
CANTO VII. 
 
 THE CONFLICT. 
 
 "T^AYS passed — how long and desolate 
 -"-^ To Oxac, o'er his daughter's fate 
 Perturbed and tortured 'neath the dense, 
 Chill, heavy clouds of dumb suspense ! 
 
 Days passed — how long and dull they seemed 
 
 To Kaska ! days all unredeemed 
 
 By worthy purpose ; incomplete 
 
 Because by noble deeds and sweet 
 
 Unrounded. 'T is no idle thing — 
 
 The moment that with golden wing 
 
 Flies backward to eternity 
 
 Full freighted, thoughtless soul, by thee ! 
 
 Day after day with love's surmise 
 Went Kaska forth, his eager eyes 
 Far sweeping the horizon's rim 
 From early dawn, till twilight dim, 
 To catch some sign for eye or ear 
 Bespeaking the approach and near 
 Of long-expected embassy — 
 E'er yet they came. 
 
 59 
 
6o ZULU LCI, 
 
 What though their way 
 Lagoons debarred and streams unspanned, 
 Dark wooded hills and seas of sand ? 
 Though rough and perilous and long 
 The route from thymy groves of song 
 To loveliest vale of Anahuac ? 
 To Kaska, trifling as the rack 
 Of summer skies a breath might chase, 
 Obstructions seemed — they found no place 
 With him. 
 
 At length their coming tread 
 He heard and more. Old courtiers bred, 
 With tongue persuasive trained to reach 
 By dainty idioms of speech 
 Unwelcome truths, led through the maze 
 Of foreign favor, gifts, and praise, 
 Till Kaska warned the dallying tongue ! 
 With eagerness he caught, but flung 
 Aside the tidings ere half told. 
 Discerned the doubt 'ncath tissued fold ! — 
 " The beautiful Zululu led 
 From sweet seclusion, with her head 
 Low bent, and cheeks aflame, to see 
 And hear the bird of prophecy ! 
 Its brilliant plumage charmed her eye, 
 But when, with strange terrific cry 
 It fled her gentle hand in fright. 
 She wept and stole away ! " 
 
 A light 
 Unheralded his dark eye flashed, 
 And blood impatient hotly dashed 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC. 6 1 
 
 His cheek, the while he smiled in scorn — 
 An ominous smile of passion born, 
 And charged with wrath ! 
 
 '' Ha ! go," he said, 
 His proud lips tremulous, " go shred 
 Your pretty story in the ears 
 Of slaves ! — my promised bride in tears ! 
 My palace brooded by the bird 
 Of destiny ! yet know^ — a word 
 Of this, — a sign, a look, a breath — 
 Is certain ignominious death ! " 
 
 His lords withdrawn, the king conferred 
 With power and pride ; to kill the bird. 
 Defy the omen, and possess 
 His bride they counselled him, nor less 
 His will approved. Should he, a king 
 Whose sceptre was no trifling thing. 
 Yield his prerogative to fate 
 Like men uncrowned, dispassionate. 
 Who, menaced by a fear, forswear 
 The god within ? To will — to dare — 
 The two fierce forces known to lead 
 Success — he yoked them for his need ! 
 
 " No bird in all the land," he cried, 
 
 " Shall fright from Kaska's arms his bride ! " 
 
 Ere long a sullen hum awoke ; 
 
 A shapeless sound which grew and broke 
 
 In tones discordant — tones that seemed 
 
62 ZULULU, 
 
 But meaningless to him who dreamed 
 Of coming bliss, till swelled the sound 
 To sudden tumult ; from the ground 
 It rose imperious, and wrought 
 Its interdict of happy thought. 
 
 A warrior band was at his gate, 
 Strong-armed strangers, desperate 
 And rude of speech. 
 
 *' In Oxac's name — 
 By his command, we come to claim 
 His child— Zululu ! These demands 
 To Kaska ! from his crafty hands 
 Be swift release or shall he know 
 The vengeance of a northland foe. 
 Go— speed the message to the throne ! ' 
 
 ** By all the gods let blood atone 
 
 The base indignity ! Breaks thus 
 
 This Oxac most perfidious, 
 
 Our sacred bond ? False-hearted chief ! 
 
 He seeks a quarrel — be it brief 
 
 And hot ! " 
 
 So cried the king in wrath — 
 Enraged as if across his path 
 A serpent venomous did crawl. 
 He stamped the fair floor of his hall, 
 And glared with frenzied eyes adown 
 Upon the tumult of the town. 
 For forth to red encounter sprang 
 A host of ready braves ! Out rang 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 63 
 
 The cry " Avenge the king's disgrace ! " 
 With battle-axe and pointed mace," 
 And ponderous hammer, dart, and spear. 
 Enraged by hate that blinded fear, 
 In close encounter foe met foe 
 Where deadly thrust, and crushing blow 
 Threw wide the door of swift escape 
 For many a warrior soul, from shape 
 Rough hewn to earth. 
 
 Yet all in vain 
 Strove Oxac's noble few ; their slain 
 High heaped the gateway where they fought,'^ 
 Till stood but two, who well bethought, 
 " What boots it thus to throw away 
 Our lives in this unequal fray ? " 
 Forth through the murderous lines they broke, 
 The while in awful fury woke 
 The wild pursuit — o'ercome at length 
 By northern courage, speed, and strength ! — 
 On, on to Anahuac ! 
 
 Not long 
 Might Oxac suffer seeming wrong 
 To pass unpunished. Far and near 
 Vindictive tongue, and eager ear 
 Conveyed, and drank the maddening tale ; 
 And soon re-echoed all the vale 
 With loud '' To arms ! " and soon a host 
 Of dusky braves with threat and boast. 
 And flags outflung defiantly. 
 Swept down the valley toward the sea. 
 
CANTO VIII. 
 
 IN QUIZQUO'S CAVE. 
 
 " OIT close, my child, small breath for speech 
 
 ^ Hath Bacca — nay, methinks to teach 
 Our tones the hush of voiceless fears 
 Were wise — so many tongues and ears 
 Hath Nature ! Would we were not come 
 Upon this peril ! nought is dumb. 
 Or blind, in all this haunt of hers ; 
 The very leaves are whisperers ! 
 One like a meaning, sensuous thing. 
 Came floating down on high red wing 
 Across my path ! I hurried past, 
 But urged along by fitful blast 
 It rustling chased me as I fled — 
 The while a night-owl overhead 
 Loud called to me ! 
 
 '* The dead twigs beat 
 Their sharp retort to hasty feet 
 Which crushed them ! To the tell-tale breeze 
 Low bowed and listened all the trees ; 
 The very stars did on me stare ! 
 The thorn-bush from his tangled lair 
 64 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 65 
 
 My mantle clutched — see how 't is rent ! 
 And when I reached the steep descent 
 By trailing vine, and scraggy root 
 Made difficult, my careless foot 
 Struck hard a century-sleeping stone 
 Which woke, and leaped away, with tone 
 Of sullen echoes, which did say : 
 * A maiden came this w^ay, this way ! 
 Ye who seek her, follow, follow. 
 Follow,' till in accents hollow 
 Died the voice. 
 
 What if were heard 
 By other ears the fateful word ? 
 O child ! new tongues articulate 
 With soul, all things inanimate 
 Have taken on : we are betrayed ! 
 What madness urged us to invade 
 This dreadful place ? The gods will hide 
 No longer Kaska's promised bride." 
 
 " Good Bacca, thou art wearied — lean 
 
 Upon me thus ; so would I screen 
 
 Thy trembling form from every ill ; 
 
 Thy temples burn, thy hand is chill. 
 
 Thy soul w4th terror seems distraught. 
 
 For two long moons, how hast thou wrought 
 
 My weal, and with what cost to thee ! 
 
 Thy patience, care, and constancy 
 
 Amaze me ! all thy wanderings wild 
 
 To bring me food." 
 
 " Nay, nay, my child, 
 
66 ZULULU, 
 
 Speak of it not." 
 
 " That thou shouldst share 
 This solitude, these perils dare, 
 Doth grieve me, Bacca." 
 
 " Grieve thee ? know 
 For thee my child, I would forego 
 All ease, all ill endure— yet what 
 Avail if Quizquo succor not ? " 
 
 *' Seems it so difficult to rest 
 A little in the shadowed nest 
 Of love unseen ? so hard to stand 
 In silence, holding fast the hand 
 Omnipotent ? shall doubt or fear 
 Disquiet whom the gods hold dear ? 
 Expression of divinest thought 
 Is Nature. 
 
 Wherefore question aught 
 Of solemn wood, or quiet nook. 
 Or vainful owl, or babbling brook, 
 Or answering echoes ? On thy path 
 Looked down the stars ? O not in wrath. 
 Bright fluttering leaf, and nodding tree, 
 And zephyr soft, on ministry 
 Of mercy, all methinks were sent 
 To whisper * peace.' " 
 
 " O what hath lent 
 Thy soul its fatal trust ? Yet fly ! 
 Perchance to tarry is to die " — 
 
 " Perchance to live^ but what is life ? 
 A little breath in constant strife 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 6 J 
 
 With fatal forces ? O methinks 
 The soul is bound by golden links 
 To life that feeds not in this air — 
 A more of life and otherwhere ! 
 How thought in this retreat hath grown, 
 In converse with the gods ! unknown, 
 Yet near, so near that I have caught 
 Immortal breathings which have taught 
 Old words new meanings. 
 
 What is death ? 
 Oft have I watched with bated breath 
 When stilly night was at its noon, 
 The burial of the beauteous moon — 
 Yet hath she ever risen — no beam 
 Of beauty lost ! 
 
 Beside the stream 
 That wanders through our pleasant vale 
 I know a bank where violets pale 
 In spring-time waken from a sleep 
 Refreshful, though so long and deep ! 
 And I have called it death — that strange 
 Withdrawal, where they rest, and change 
 Their faded hues for fairer. 
 
 So 
 Methinks to die — is but to go 
 Apart a little, and lay by 
 My dusty dress — for shall not I 
 Be still Zululu ? still the same 
 In thought and look, my very name 
 Mine ever ? In my conscious breast 
 Something asserts it. Not dull rest. 
 
68 ZULULU. 
 
 But truer, freer life, that goes 
 Straight through the shadow of repose 
 Into the morn — " 
 
 Unheralded 
 The awful shock ! It burst o'erhead 
 With fiery bolt, and thunderous stroke 
 Which thrilled the cavern, and bespoke 
 The mountain god ! Around, and o'er, 
 Were jar, and deafening crash, and roar, 
 With quivering walls on either side, 
 And granite ceiling parting wide ! 
 
 Upheaved the rocky floor and fell 
 
 Uncertain o'er the deadly swell 
 
 Of molten billows mad with fire, 
 
 And quenchless as great Quizquo's ire. 
 
 The dim small doorway to their hall 
 
 Closed slowly into solid wall. 
 
 And all was over ! 
 
 O to beat 
 The door close shut to hope's retreat ! 
 To know the great bright world apart 
 Whirls on, nor heeds the throbbing heart 
 Entombed ! yet patience, gentle souls ! 
 Yes, fold your puny hands, and pray ! 
 God's blessed angel sometimes rolls 
 The stone of sepulture away. 
 
CANTO IX. 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE. 
 
 A WOKE the vale of lakes and rills, 
 ■'*• Of Iztapec the templed town, 
 As o'er the shoulders of the hills 
 
 Soft veiled, the morning sun looked down, 
 
 On many a home where children played. 
 And patient mothers toiled the while ; 
 
 Where o'er her task, the black-eyed maid 
 Recalled her brave with sigh and smile, 
 
 Nor thought o'erlong the fibrous seams. 
 As swift her cactus needle flew — 
 
 For love was fashioning from dreams 
 A robe of gossamer and blue. 
 
 And white-haired men whose wars were o'er, 
 Smoked on in silence and apart : " 
 
 Or sitting by the cabin door 
 
 They shaped and barbed the arrowy dart. 
 
 From polished wood, shell, tooth, and bone, 
 Rare implements and trinkets made,'^ 
 60 
 
70 ZULULU, 
 
 Or chiselled from the gray-green stone 
 The huge head crusher, axe, and blade. 
 
 And aged matrons chanted low 
 
 To dusky babes upon their knees 
 The god-like feats of Manabaho,*' 
 
 The wild exploits of Papukewis," 
 
 And strong-armed Kwasind," hearing which 
 Youths grew ambitious, rushed to wars ; 
 
 By deeds of daring sought a niche 
 Beside the god who counted scars. 
 
 And gave long fame. Thrice blessed he 
 
 With life grown strong, and straight, and white 
 
 Into its immortality 
 
 Among the stars and crowned with light. 
 
 Against a slope of faded green 
 
 Stood up the temple facing bold 
 The sun, whose burning eye had seen 
 
 Her altars lit in cycles old. 
 
 Trod to and fro the dark-browed priest 
 In solemn service ; weird and tall 
 
 His shadow, which the glowing east 
 Flung back on the vermilion wall," 
 
 Where sacred signs by time unspoiled, 
 Were lithographed by hands at rest ; 
 
 And where in awful beauty coiled 
 The serpent with the feathered crest. 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC. 7 1 
 
 And countless, curious forms outgrown 
 By mighty souls, long time embalmed ; 
 
 Heroic shapes that lived in stone ; 
 Brave barks eternally becalmed 
 
 Hark ! what of rumor brings the breeze 
 Fresh from the southland ? Old men rise, 
 
 Rebuke their late enforced ease. 
 
 Their deaf ears bend, and cast their eyes 
 
 Adown the vale ; and women leave 
 
 Their uncrushed maize, and shade their brows, 
 And look, and listen, to retrieve 
 
 Their fancies from the shimmering boughs. 
 
 See ! nearer, clearer, lo, they come 
 
 With chants of victory-:-Oxac's braves ! 
 
 Loud welcomes greet the warriors home 
 And taunt their many hapless slaves, 
 
 Xibalban captives ! War's red hand 
 Smote heavily, snatched Kaska's crown, 
 
 Flung far his sceptre of command, 
 And slew the tyrant — tearing down 
 
 The standard of his pride and power ! 
 
 Though terrible, yet brief the strife ; 
 Alas for him whose final hour 
 
 So reaps the follies of his life ! 
 
 Now, O Xibalba — charmed land. 
 
 Dig deep and hide thy lustrous head ! 
 
72 ZUL UL U, 
 
 'Neath thickening mould, and drifting sand, 
 
 And dark old forests make thy bed 
 
 In silence : Yet be not so dead, 
 But sleep ! sleep — clinging to thy past. 
 
 And though the slow-paced ages make 
 Long marches o'er thee, holding fast 
 
 Thy buried fame, thou need'st not wake ! 
 E'en though the eager Present cry 
 
 " Awake ! " sleep on ! Old Time hath sealed 
 Thy quietude. They do not die 
 Whom God entombs ! the mystery 
 
 Of silent life, lies unrevealed. 
 
 Feasts, sacred festivals, and games " 
 
 Attest the general joy ; red flames 
 
 The altar fire : the hearth-stone glows 
 
 O'er warriors stretched in soft repose 
 
 Well earned : all hearts are jubilant 
 
 Save one, whom neither victor's chant, 
 
 Nor spoils can charm — the noble chief ! 
 
 His heart is heavy with a grief 
 
 That crowds out joy. The victors brought 
 
 Proud trophies back — not whom they sought — 
 
 Zululu ! 
 
 O how small becomes 
 A triumph, the encomiums 
 That live on mortal breath, the power 
 That grapples for one little hour 
 With fate when all the lights are out, 
 And gropes the hungry heart about 
 Unsatisfied ! 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 73 
 
 What cares he now 
 That men before his greatness bow — 
 That he is Oxac ? Hides away 
 The v/retched chieftain, and the day 
 Wears on with noisesome glee and din ; 
 All tiresome sounds rush rudely in 
 And torture him with cruel pain 
 Till madness seizes on his brain ! 
 He calls his child, and beats the air, 
 And weeps, and shivers in despair. 
 
 In vain his awed attendants try 
 
 Full many a royal remedy, 
 
 Rare gums and cordials, herbs and roots — 
 
 All medicative mountain fruits 
 
 Renowned for potency to heal 
 
 Afflicted life. The priests appeal 
 
 To temple gods. 
 
 Distressed and prone, 
 Their faces in the dust, bemoan 
 The people their beloved chief ; 
 They smite their loyal breasts for grief, 
 And weeping wander to and fro. 
 
 " Why wail the people ? What swift woe 
 Doth chase the tears down warrior cheeks ?" 
 
 A captive slave it is, who speaks — 
 A poor Xibalban, won in war, 
 A self-forgetful questioner. 
 
74 ZULULU. 
 
 "Oxac, our mighty chief must die," 
 Replies the guard with downcast eye ; 
 " A fever boils his blood, his brain 
 Is fired with fury — hope is vain ! " 
 
 " O say not thus ! there is a weed 
 In virtue great as is the need 
 Of stricken Oxac. In my land 
 'T is native, and wdth careful hand 
 Oft gathered — e'en in yonder dell 
 Perchance it grows ! I know it well — 
 O bid me seek it ! " 
 
 ''Go!" out-spoke 
 The guard, and quick his fetters broke ; 
 " Go, haste thee ! bring the gracious weed ! 
 Life, death, according to thy deed 
 Thy recompense." 
 
 Bowed low the slave 
 And sped away. Ye gods, vouchsafe 
 Him guidance ! on a trembling breath 
 Hangs his eternity ! life, death ! 
 
CANTO X. 
 
 THE FEVER WEED. 
 
 A 17 HAT long and patient search he makes 
 
 ' ' By sedgy pools with border brakes 
 In still recesses sleeping late 
 Beyond the morning, nooks ornate 
 With leafy spray, the hiding-place 
 Of stranger blooms that in his face 
 Do stare — sweet creatures bright and bold ! 
 He heeds them not, they do not hold 
 His destiny. 
 
 How anxiously 
 He treads his way ! no cliff so high 
 He cannot climb, no dell so deep 
 He may not dare, though serpents creep 
 Among the dark vines poisonous — 
 Perchance they guard his treasure thus — 
 Ah, see ! the tiny plant he spies ! 
 Success out-flashes from his eyes. 
 And crushing 'neath his heel defeat, 
 He plucks it — 't is a meek-eyed cheat ! 
 By fields where late the zea maize stood, 
 Up hill aslant, through tangled wood, 
 75 
 
76 ZUL UL L\ 
 
 So true, and purposeful, and strong, 
 No path seems difficult or long. 
 
 On, on, till strength and hope decline. 
 And day has reached the boundary line 
 Of twilight, and the fever weed 
 Unfound ! Perhaps beyond its need 
 Great Oxac now — then what remains ? 
 With cruel mockery and chains 
 The sterner fate to failure fixed — 
 A bitter portion all unmixed 
 With pity. 
 
 For a moment stood 
 The wavering slave, wide was the wood- 
 Might he not flee ? why should he die — 
 And life so dear ? In agony 
 He prostrate fell. 
 
 " O thou," he cried, 
 " To whom this place is sacred, hide. 
 Or smite me with thine awful rod. 
 Nor prove thyself a vengeful god 
 In whom a stranger cannot trust." 
 
 " Quizquo is merciful and just." 
 
 Amazed, he sprang upon his feet 
 
 And listened ! How tempestuous beat 
 
 His heart — he heard it — nothing more ! 
 
 He peered about him ; all things bore 
 
 A dumb behavior, and he felt 
 
 The night draw round him like a belt, 
 
THE MAID OF ANAITUAC. yj 
 
 Chill, tightening, holding fast his breath ! 
 Had Oxac's spirit freed by death, 
 Disrobed to walk the trackless air, 
 Vindictive come to mock his prayer ? 
 A sudden horror seized his soul ! 
 His eyes instinctive sought the ghoul 
 Where shadows walked among the trees 
 Down shaken by the evening breeze ; 
 Peered cautiously from side to side, 
 But nought of spectral shape he spied. 
 
 Then suddenly his soul grew strong- 
 Remembering that no taint of wrong 
 Imbued it, that no evil thought 
 Concerning Oxac, was inwrought 
 With service well, but vainly done, 
 Though dark the doom his zeal had won. 
 Again upon the leaf-strewn sod 
 He bowed and prayed : 
 
 " Great mountain God 
 If aught thy pity may command. 
 Know thou, a captive in strange land, 
 In dire extremity doth plead 
 Thine aid to find the fever weed 
 For stricken Oxac— lest he die !— 
 O speed his foot, and guide his eye, 
 Thou great unknown— his only trust—" 
 
 '' Our only trust ! Quizquo is just ! " — 
 As if an echo did repeat 
 Its pretty measure. 
 
78 ZULULU, 
 
 To his feet 
 Again he sprang, his prayer forgot, 
 Dispatched his senses to the spot 
 Whence seemed the sound, a symphony 
 Of word and tone so faint, so nigh ! 
 " Ye gods, forgive a mortal ear ! " 
 He whispered, bending low to hear. 
 
 " Quizquo is good ; yon pretty star 
 That through this rifted roof I see, 
 
 His love hath summoned from afar, 
 To watch and shine for me, 
 For long the night may be. 
 
 '* Quizquo is great and good, beside 
 What need a simple maiden know ? 
 
 Contented in his care I bide 
 
 Until he bids me go — 
 Himself the way will show. 
 
 " Quizquo is merciful ; he draws 
 His curtain closer, lest the light 
 
 Should blind mine eyes ; because 
 Of my imperfect sight 
 He gives me rest and night. 
 
 " Quizquo is good, and great, and just ; 
 Enough — what would Zululu more ? 
 
 Here will she tarry in sweet trust 
 Until the night is o'er, 
 And love shall ope the door." 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC. 79 
 
 The plaintive measure seemed to die 
 In waves of sweetness, like the sigh 
 Of evening zephyr to the rose 
 The while he rocks her to repose. 
 
 His fate forgotten, terror flown, 
 No longer helpless and alone, 
 For, came to him that soulful power 
 Which sometimes crowns, in darkest hour. 
 Inspired with purpose seemed the slave ; 
 A moment's earnest heed he gave, 
 Then carefully explored the ground 
 Whence late exhaled that dream of sound, 
 That melody so strangely sweet — 
 He sought, and at his very feet 
 A narrow fissure found, which led. 
 Out-stretching like a sombre thread. 
 Far up the hill-side. TrembHngly 
 He kneeled and spake : 
 
 " Whate'er thou be— 
 Earth-born or spirit — answer me." 
 
 " A mortal answers : could she know 
 Thou wert a friend, and not a foe ? " 
 
 " A foe to none am I. Beguiled 
 By Oxac's need into this wild — " 
 
 " His need ! Oh, what is Oxac's need ? 
 
 I am Zululu — Oxac's child ! 
 
 Say on — my hungry ears have greed." 
 
8o ZUL UL U, 
 
 " All day the gods have whispered ' speed 
 Thou vexed spirit — speed away ! ' 
 Disease hath touched him with decay, 
 The fever on him feeds." 
 
 *' Nay, nay ! 
 He must not die ! '' Zululu cried, 
 " Some remedy may yet be tried — " 
 
 " For which my life is pledged ; alas 
 I cannot find it ! " Leaves and grass 
 Back brushing as he spoke, dowm peered 
 The captive ; all was dark and weird. 
 
 '' Zululu, why in this strange spot ? 
 Forth — haste to Oxac ! tarry not ! 
 Perhaps thy ministry may save 
 His precious life ! " implored the slave. 
 
 '* Then must he die. This cavern door 
 Hath Quizquo shut ! Oh, never more, 
 Perchance, shall poor Zululu see 
 Her father's face ! " 
 
 " It shall not be ! 
 What though these granite doors are strong. 
 The soul is stronger ! Powers malign 
 Must yield I — My life, sweet maid, for thine ! " 
 
 " Yet stay ; I hide away from one 
 I dare not wed — King Kayi's son. 
 Methinks 't were better here to bide — " 
 
 " List ! Kaska ne'er will claim his bride." 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 8 1 
 
 He clasped the lovely hand that through 
 The crevice reached to him. 
 
 '' Adieu, 
 Zululu ! " but no answering word ; 
 A sigh that told of tears he heard, 
 A piteous sigh that sped his flight ; 
 He dashed away into the night 
 Down, down the mountain's rugged height, 
 A pathless, treacherous way, but what 
 Can hinder one who has forgot 
 Fear, fate, himself ? or what control 
 That strange delirium of the soul 
 Broke loose from human impotence ? 
 Poor cumbrous shape, and strictured sense, 
 Plod on, your way is rough and new — 
 The soul waits not to walk with you ! 
 
 The lowland gained, his course he steered 
 
 By evening star, until appeared 
 
 The temple luminous, the pride 
 
 Of Anahuac, the stranger's guide 
 
 To Iztapec. Anon he neared 
 
 The mighty walls by patience reared. 
 
 By courage guarded ; but alas ! 
 
 Within the city gates could pass 
 
 Unchallenged none. 
 
 Uncertain clung 
 The answer to his stammering tongue ; 
 The rough guard marked it, and not less 
 His unaccustomed air and dress. 
 Suspicion said " A foe thou art ! " 
 
 6 
 
82 ZULULU, 
 
 And swift and straight the hurtling dart 
 Was sped and buried in his breast ; 
 He fell — no cry his pain expressed, 
 Yet low he murmured : 
 
 '' Thus to die 
 With sealed lips ; ye gods deny 
 Life, liberty to me, all bliss, 
 Whate'er ye will, but grant me this^ 
 A heaven for her, a swift release 
 To fair Zululu ! courage ! peace 
 Poor heart ! perchance some kindly ear 
 May catch thy cry." 
 
 'T was heard, drew near 
 The guards and gave gruff audience. 
 
 " For Oxac's sake — O bear me thence 
 Within the city ! Staunch this flow ! 
 A little breath — the chief shall know 
 Where hides his child — ah me — too — late ! " 
 
 Strong hands push back the ponderous gate 
 And bear his bleeding form within, 
 And crowding round him seek to win 
 His spirit back. With fibrous twines 
 Tie up his wounds, nutritious wines 
 Bestow, and gentle food. 
 
 Attent 
 They wait the slow arbitrament 
 Of life with death, till as from sleep 
 He rouses. 
 
 '' Do the people weep ? 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 83 
 
 Oxac — lives he ? I pray you say 
 He lives ! " 
 
 " He lives." 
 
 " Then haste away — 
 O haste and bring his child — 't is she — 
 Her very lips did answer me 
 From darksome cave in yonder wild, 
 * I am Zululu, Oxac's child ! ' — 
 Can nought your sluggish natures stir ? 
 Ye cowards ! Will none rescue her ? 
 Then I — stand back — nay, let me go I " 
 
 He sought to rise, — as if a blow 
 
 Had smitten him, he swooned, and fell 
 
 Into a long dim interval 
 
 Of silence, and he would not wake, 
 
 Nor heed their questions, nor unmake 
 
 The wonderment his broken speech 
 
 Had wrought, but held beyond their reach, 
 
 A key which might unlock the day 
 
 To Oxac, who benighted lay 
 
 In heavy slumbers, moaning low 
 
 Of lost Zululu — for his woe 
 
 Slept not, and his attendants deemed 
 
 His grief but greater when he dreamed. 
 
CANTO XI. 
 
 THE SEARCH. 
 
 T ONG hours unconscious lay the slave ; 
 ^ Save that he breathed no sign he gave 
 Of life, but looked as one long dead. 
 He heeded not the guard who said : 
 
 " Base treachery is here ! this slave 
 But sought his worthless life to save 
 By falsehood ; gave his word to bring 
 A fever-weed, some useless thing 
 His people prize, the which should cure 
 Our stricken chief ! the forfeiture 
 Was death — which he accepted. See I 
 He brings no royal remedy, 
 But com.es with mutterings false and wild 
 Of forest, cavern, Oxac's child ! 
 Perchance he prates of Quizquo's cave 
 To lure us thither— cursed knave ! 
 Gods ! I would smite him, but to save 
 His life for sorer punishment." 
 
 Some answered " So " ; and some low bent 
 And looking in his face nought said ; 
 
 84 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 85 
 
 Some stood apart and shook the head, 
 While some strode wrathfully around, 
 And others gazed upon the ground. 
 
 At length a youthful brave stepped forth ; 
 The cold, dread courage of the north 
 Was his, and hot young blood. 
 
 "A slave 
 Has called us cowards ! and we save 
 Our answer till his emptied veins 
 Refill, that he may reap the gains 
 Of treachery. Why doom him thus ? 
 Those whom the gods count valorous 
 Are just ; and justice bids us heed 
 His broken story, and with speed 
 Yon forest search, and with such care 
 The maiden shall be found — if there. 
 Though idle words were those that fell 
 From craven lips, yet do we well, 
 O brother braves ? To her retreat 
 The gods direct our willing feet ! " 
 The words of Atzol. 
 
 Answered none 
 By yea, or nay, but one by one, 
 A deedful few their places took 
 Beside the youth. 
 
 The babbling brook 
 Sings not its source through summer's drought. 
 Mute force is mighty, working out, 
 The grand designs of nature. Power 
 Is deed, when duty strikes the hour. 
 
S6 ZUL UL L\ 
 
 They formed, a hardy zealous band ; 
 Each warrior held a flaming brand, 
 And each his ready weapon bore, 
 And all were silent. 
 
 Round and o'er 
 The night was thick, and hushed, and late, 
 But every heart was desperate 
 With purpose, and each black eye burned 
 With energy which dared or spurned 
 The hinderments of circumstance. 
 What eager ear ! what sidelong glance ! 
 
 Stout natures sometimes reap disgrace 
 From trifles ; very pigmies chase 
 The man in armor who o'erthrows 
 In awful needs gigantic foes ! 
 
 A nameless terror chilled each brave 
 
 As wound their way toward Quizquo's cave, 
 
 For footprints from the dingle deep 
 
 Led on and up the wooded steep 
 
 To thickest shade. 
 
 Now, near the ground 
 Their torches flare and circle round 
 The astonished trees, to which the light 
 Long hours before had said " Good-night." 
 A broken twig, a new bent blade, 
 A leaf's displacement in the shade, 
 A low crushed lichen quivering yet, 
 Because some foot had late been set 
 Upon it, said " This way he went." 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 87 
 
 They understood, pressed on, content 
 With roughest toil could they but trace 
 His wanderings to the hiding-place 
 Of lost Zululu. 
 
 All confessed 
 As leader in the doubtful quest 
 Young Atzol, whose harangue had won 
 Their dumb approval ; counselled none 
 This course or that, but as he led 
 They followed. 
 
 With observant tread 
 He sometimes moved, and sometimes stood 
 Erect and questioned close the wood 
 With sense acute, or in his might 
 Advanced, far flashing left and right 
 His fiery brand. 
 
 " Ha ! What strange thing 
 Here flutters like a red-bird's wing 
 Among these brambles fell and bold ? " 
 He said, and plucked it from the hold 
 Of thorny fingers. 'T was a shred 
 Of some gay-colored stuff. A thread 
 Of fringe clung to it, and betrayed 
 The part. 
 
 " Methink's Zululu's maid 
 Had mantle bordered thus ! " one cried. 
 Another viewed it and replied : 
 '' Of Bacca's mantle 't is a part ! " 
 
 Thereat spake Atzol : " Be each heart 
 By this assured ; about this place 
 
ZUL UL U, 
 
 Be every nook and dream of space 
 Severely searched." All gave assent 
 And forth by paths divergent went. 
 
 Like those who listen, awed and prone 
 To catch the earthquake's undertone, 
 So Atzol bowed him to the ground, 
 With ear expectant set. Profound 
 The silence, till at length up-crept 
 A quavering breath. He started ; swept 
 The drifted leaves with blaze of light. 
 When, lo ! discovered to his sight 
 A fissure, sinuous and dark ! 
 With curious eye he stooped to mark 
 Its meaning, when a sobbing sound 
 Arose as from the rifted ground. 
 
 "Whom holds this dungeon ? " loud he cried, 
 
 " Zululu," one low-voiced replied, 
 *' And good old Bacca ; — other seems 
 The tone — not that which all my dreams 
 And prayers have thrilled since yester eve — 
 Would 't were the same ! " 
 
 That she did weave 
 Strange words into her answer, what 
 To those who understood them not, 
 AVhose earnest souls were only stirred 
 For her release ? 
 
 Prompt was the word. 
 And brave the deed, as stroke on stroke 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 89 
 
 Their huge stone hammers beat and broke 
 Through walls of earth and granite gray, 
 The cavern opening to the day — 
 To those entombed the world without. 
 When gentle feet stepped forth, a shout 
 Proclaimed through all the dark profound, 
 "Zululu ! Oxac's child, is found ! " 
 
 Bright streamed the autumn sunshine down ; 
 
 Late morning lay upon the town. 
 
 Ere Atzol's gallant equipage 
 
 Swept through the gates — its final stage 
 
 With triumph rounded. Warriors strong 
 
 Wrought glad delirium in the throng 
 
 By acclamation long and wild 
 
 In honor of their chieftain's child. 
 
 All nature seemed to catch the thrill 
 
 Of joyance, vale and vocal hill 
 
 Awoke and echoed long applause ; 
 
 The birds sang new sweet tunes, because 
 
 Of fair Zululu — homeward borne ! 
 
 And when with sweet face sorrow worn, 
 
 Down from the birchen chair she stepped, 
 
 Full many a gray-haired matron wept 
 
 For very joy that she was found, 
 
 While happy children strewed the ground 
 
 With flowers. 
 
 Poor child ! she could not heed 
 Or cheers, or tears, or loving deed 
 Of artless childhood. Swift she flew 
 To Oxac's chamber — but he knew 
 
90 ZULULU. 
 
 Her not, nor answered when she spake, 
 Beseeching him with tears to wake. 
 
 Long time beside his couch she stands, 
 His burning brow with tender hands 
 Soft soothing ; but while yet she waits 
 And weeps and prays, the fever bates, 
 And Oxac wakens ; lo ! 't is she — 
 Zululu — mute with misery 
 And love's solicitude ! 
 
 Her eyes 
 To all his doubts give glad replies — 
 Enough ! He clasps her to his breast 
 And holds her close, then fearful lest 
 His senses cheat him, bids her speak ; 
 He strokes her hair, and feels her cheek. 
 Her soft hand presses, calls her name 
 O'er and again, while hint of blame 
 Intones his accent, as if still 
 Her presence answers not his will. 
 
 At length o'erwrought he sleeps, to wake 
 Refreshed. To other hearts that ache. 
 Bring sweet repose, O blessed sleep ! 
 And gently close the eyes that weep. 
 
CANTO XII. 
 
 THE TRIAL. 
 
 OO Oxac of his malady 
 
 ^ Was healed, and on an early day 
 
 He rose and thanked the gods, and bore 
 
 To temple altars princely store 
 
 Of sacrificial fruits, and there 
 
 Devoutly worshipped. 
 
 High in air. 
 Soft overlapping fold on fold. 
 Thick clouds of odorate incense rolled 
 Like prayers of white-robed souls that fling 
 Sweet benedictions from the wing 
 Spread heavenward, marking as they rise 
 The spirit's highway to the skies. 
 
 As if to some great festival 
 The people gathered, proving well 
 Their loyalty and gratitude — 
 Was not great Oxac's life renewed, 
 Zululu found ? 
 
 No woe to check 
 Her happiness had Iztapec, 
 91 
 
 J 
 
92 ZUL UL U, 
 
 And all the land had joy again ; 
 
 Staid matrons, lion-hearted men, 
 
 Youths, maidens, children, — all were glad. 
 
 In garb fantastic some were clad, 
 
 Invoking mirth by dance and game ; 
 
 While ever and anon the name 
 
 Of Oxac woke the loyal cheer 
 
 So grateful to a ruler's ear. 
 
 And ever and anon, uprose 
 
 A shout which over vanquished foes 
 
 Inhered to old Nahuan braves. 
 
 Far heights responsive flung the waves 
 
 Of tumult back, and with the shout 
 
 The name of Kaska, wreathed about 
 
 With scorn ; till when, Zululu nought 
 
 Had known of deadliest battle fought — 
 
 And Kaska slain ! But there she stood, 
 
 A fair strong type of maidenhood 
 
 How tempest shaken ! 
 
 To the chief 
 She trembling clung. Somewhat of grief 
 To pity softened made her weep — 
 Resolving Kaska's name to keep. 
 Enshrined by memory with pure 
 And sacred things, from scorn secure. 
 E'en as she wept, to Oxac pressed 
 A warrior with the foul request : 
 
 " Great chief, this proud occasion cries 
 Aloud for fitting sacrifice. 
 Unnumbered southern slaves await 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 03 
 
 Long servitude or swifter fate 
 On smoking altars. One by one, 
 Dost bid us offer to the Sun 
 Their proud warm hearts ? " 
 
 " O never yet 
 Our sacred altars have been wet 
 With human blood," Oxac replied. 
 '' Enough that fair Xibalba's pride 
 Is humbled for a crime not hers ! 
 Enough, her sons are servitors 
 To strangers." 
 
 Bowing low his head, 
 " Oxac hath spoken," Murzi ^^ said, 
 As if his spirit were subdued, 
 Yet still in abject attitude 
 Remained till Oxac bade him speak, 
 
 " Most gracious chief. I do but seek 
 The just enforcement of just laws 
 For crimes committed. This my cause ; 
 Among the captives there is one 
 Who dared — what never can be done — 
 To blind old Murzi ! Treachery 
 Demands sore punishment ; with me 
 He broke his faith. For Oxac's need 
 He pledged to bring a fever weed, 
 Some sure specific known to bate 
 The fever fire, but, lingering late, 
 Brought only fabrications wild. 
 And tangled stories of thy child — 
 Full tender pratings for a slave ! " 
 
94 ZULULU, 
 
 *' Then shall he die ! but bring the knave. 
 Unjudged shall pass no weakling's cause, 
 If guilty, stern and just our laws." 
 
 Soon came old Murzi ; petty power, 
 
 Which crowns the craven for an hour 
 
 Of tyranny, had stamped the sign 
 
 Of cruelty on every line 
 
 And feature of his swarthy face ; 
 
 A human fiend, without one grace 
 
 Of human sympathy was he ; 
 
 A hateful, blackened mystery 
 
 Of life which should be white ! So sin 
 
 Consuming all the good within, 
 
 Disfigures all without. 
 
 Fell back 
 The clamorous crowd — a narrow track 
 The guards held open to the court 
 Toward which the hapless slave, the sport 
 And curse of all, was rudely pressed. 
 Whom thus the angry chief addressed. 
 
 *' Ha ! art thou he whose word is nought, 
 Who pledged to bring, but never brought, 
 The fever weed ? Who dared to teach 
 Thy captive tongue to frame in speech 
 My daughter's name—///// tenderly ? 
 Accursed slave ! speak ! Art thou he 1 " 
 
 With wrath was Oxac's eye aflame. 
 The slave drew up his well-built frame 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 95 
 
 To fullest stature, from the ground 
 
 His clear eyes raised. His arms were bound, 
 
 His feet were bare, a ghastly wound 
 
 Was in his breast, his garment rent 
 
 And stained with blood. On him were bent 
 
 Unnumbered hateful eyes, which fed 
 
 Upon his anguish. 
 
 Battle bred, 
 His savage heart to pity steeled, 
 Or in the court, or on the field 
 Nahuan power was terrible ! 
 
 " Great chief, thou bidd'st me answer. Nay, 
 
 I am not he ! doth Murzi say 
 
 One broke his faith ? I am not he. 
 
 A captive's tongue touched wantonly 
 
 Thy daughter's name ? I am not he ! — 
 
 My soul stands forth defiantly 
 
 To meet the charge ! Yet wherefore tell 
 
 My story ? Murzi knows full well 
 
 He wrongs me, and the gods know all ! " 
 
 A low, mad murmuring filled the hall, 
 Which spread, and quickening louder swelled. 
 A frown from Oxac promptly quelled 
 The outbreak. 
 
 " Take this captive hence 
 To deepest dungeon, recompense 
 Awaits him ! " 
 
 At the word, 't was done ; 
 The glad day waned, low flamed the sun 
 
96 ZULULU. 
 
 And passed away with fair adieu. 
 The people from their mirth withdrew 
 To humble homes and rugged rest ; 
 Within the palace proud forms pressed 
 Voluptuous couches. Thick and wide 
 Night's ebon curtain fell. 
 
 Untried 
 No soul is strong — no life all white 
 Unwashed by dews of sorrow's night. 
 No love, whate'er its boast, is true, 
 That cannot walk the furnace through — 
 Some seven-fold trial without loss. 
 The purest faith wreathes fair the cross, 
 And holds it dearer than the crown. 
 The bliss unblighted by earth's frown 
 Is born of sacrifice. 
 
CANTO XIII. 
 SOME CAUSES WILL BE HEARD AGAIN. 
 ,AMP, lone 
 
 D 
 
 The dungeon, where on bed of stone 
 The captive crouched ; yet by and by 
 He slept and dreamed. An azure sky 
 Was o'er him, there were flowers and trees, 
 And murmurings of summer seas, 
 And spicy breezes, and bright birds 
 Whose songs were miracles — sweet words 
 Which through his charmed senses stole 
 Into the chambers of the soul, 
 And thrilled him with such strange delight 
 He wakened — lo, his room was bright ! 
 A lovely form was o'er him bent 
 And one was whispering. 
 
 " Punishment 
 For deed like thine — O brave true heart ! 
 For though I know not whence thou art 
 Nor whom, yet thou didst save me, thou ! " 
 She laid her soft hand on his brow 
 And gazed into his eyes — her own 
 Were full of tears, her gentle tone 
 97 
 
g8 ZUL UL L\ 
 
 Was tremulous, her unbound hair 
 Lay on his breast. 
 
 " O vision fair ! 
 O blessed eyes that on me beam ! 
 O matchless, sweet, bewildering dream — 
 How dost thou mock me ! " 
 
 " Nay, not so ; 
 No dream is this to mock thy woe — 
 Only Zululu, whose distress 
 Companions all thy wretchedness." 
 
 " Zululu — and she pities me ? " 
 
 "Would hand of mine might set thee free ! 
 
 Yet much I fear thy hapless fate ; 
 
 My father knows not to abate 
 
 His ire, and Murzi maddened him. 
 
 Too well I read it in his dim 
 
 But angry eyes. Alas when wrong 
 
 Confuses judgment, and the strong 
 
 To cravens yield ! Of what avail 
 
 Is mercy's plea, or sorrow's wail, 
 
 In such an hour ? Oh, then, how weak 
 
 Is woman, though her heart doth speak ! 
 
 Power hath a voice for heavy ears, 
 
 That drowns the eloquence of tears. 
 
 And yet the gods judge not as men — 
 
 Some causes will be heard again. 
 
 And rulings of these lower courts 
 
 Be set aside. Heaven's law comports 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 99 
 
 With truth, while at the bar above, 
 The mightiest advocate is love." 
 The captive smiled. " Thy loving thought 
 Hath surely for my spirit wrought 
 Release ; in solitude or death. 
 My wasted cheek will feel thy breath, 
 Thy tender words will charm my ear, 
 The radiance of thy beauty clear 
 My clouded sky ! I cannot know 
 Henceforth the quality of woe. 
 Whate'er my fate, remembering thee 
 Zululu, 't will be heaven to me ! " 
 
 " Perhaps to-morrow thou must die ! — 
 If so, T know in yonder sky 
 Thou crowned shalt be." 
 
 " There free from blame 
 Might I but breathe Zululu's name — " 
 
 " How would she list and make reply ? " 
 
 " Gods 't were a blissful thing to die ! " 
 
 *' Thy life — for this shall be my prayer." 
 
 She softly stroked his raven hair. 
 
 And o'er his wounded bosom spread 
 
 His tattered robe ; then plucked a thread 
 
 From out its border ; next her heart 
 
 She hid it, as some magic art 
 
 It held ; the while the poor slave lay 
 
 So wafted from his woe away 
 
lOO ZULULU, 
 
 His tongue forgot all forms of speech. 
 He seemed to stand on some bright beach 
 Where sails are set for paradise ! 
 A moment's bliss — but gone ! his eyes 
 Flashed sudden pain. 
 
 " Nay, to despair 
 O leave me, dearest ! thou dost dare 
 Great peril, coming thus alone 
 To this vile place ! " 
 
 " Aye, if 't is known 
 Alone thou diest not ! but well 
 Is bribed the kind old sentinel, 
 My foot is heedful, heavily 
 The city sleeps ; fear not — for me 
 The gods will care. 
 
 The hour grows late — 
 Yet know, brave heart, though thou should'st die 
 Death never bars the morning gate 
 To holiest love ; and by and by 
 *T will ope for me. But now adieu." 
 A signal — back the huge door drew 
 And closed again, and she was gone. 
 
 A long thick night, a slow gray dawn, 
 Then came the day ; with rosy hand 
 She scattered sunshine o'er the land. 
 And sipped her dew with smiles so bright, 
 The beverage sparkled into light. 
 
 Refreshment feigning from repose, 
 Zululu with the morning rose 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. IC 
 
 And donned her court apparel flecked 
 With brilliancies, her round arms decked 
 With bands impearled, her pretty feet 
 Dressed daintily, adorned with sweet 
 Autumnal blooms her tressy hair. 
 And o'er her shoulders flung a rare 
 Embroidered mantle seldom worn, 
 By regal elegance forsworn 
 Familiar uses. 
 
 *' Bacca, nay ! 
 Know only this, that I to-day, 
 By all the arts love can devise. 
 Would be most pleasing in his eyes — 
 And yet, I may not please him ! so, 
 My girdle tie — now let me go, 
 Lest soon my trembling limbs refuse 
 To bear me hence. No childish dews 
 Must blind mine eyes — my tongue must speak 
 Articulate — upon my cheek 
 Must flash no feeling ! I must still 
 This fluttering heart — I can — I will ! 
 
 " Great peril ? I would undertake 
 
 All peril — all things for thy sake 
 
 Brave heart ! poor slave ! — ah ! said I — what ? 
 
 I pray you, Bacca, heed it not. 
 
 My soul is vexed with troublous things, 
 
 And idle thoughts take ready wings." 
 
CANTO XIV. 
 
 A PLEA FOR LIFE. 
 
 /^XAC was early in the court, 
 
 ^-^ And there she sought him. To comport 
 
 With reverent customs she must bide 
 
 His leisure. 
 
 At the chieftain's side 
 A dozen veteran warriors stood, 
 And one seemed speaking ; audience good 
 Gave Oxac, for he did not hear 
 Zululu's footstep ; half in fear 
 She softly stole into the shade 
 A massive pillar cast, and laid 
 A hush on clamorous distress. 
 She could not hope to gain access 
 To Oxac's side without delay, 
 Nor unobserved, to steal away. 
 '* Alas 't is Murzi — all is lost ! " 
 She murmured, as a dark form crossed 
 The outer court ; his grave advance 
 She marked with pallid countenance, 
 But sought to hush her heart — to hear 
 Or hopeful word, or doom austere, 
 
 102 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. 103 
 
 For one in thrall ! Though Oxac spake 
 The words her heart would glad or break 
 No meaning bore they to her ear. 
 
 *'0 gods," she breathed, "by this dear sign 
 Lead on." 
 
 And from its bosomed shrine 
 She drew, and to her pale lips pressed 
 The crimson relic. On her breast 
 Low drooped her head like one in prayer 
 When hope is challenged by despair. 
 Thus shadowed by the column old, 
 Herself as motionless and cold. 
 She stood some anguished minutes ; when 
 Her absent soul came back again. 
 How silent was the council hall ! 
 Murzi was gone, the chieftain, all — 
 But whither ? 
 
 With a startled cry 
 Like children when the lamps go out 
 And all is night in earth and sky — 
 With none to kiss away the doubt, 
 To hold the hand, and banish fear, 
 With " child, eternal Love is here " — 
 Zululu, frenzied with affright. 
 Upstarted ! peering left and right — 
 Along the corridor she flew. 
 Here, there, upon the courtier's view 
 Like sudden sunshine burscing through 
 A hurrying cloud of summer time, 
 Her footfalls waking sweetest chime. 
 
[04 ZULULU, 
 
 Until the chieftain she espied ; 
 He saw, and called her to his side ; 
 Her presence was a glad surprise, 
 She read it in his love-lit eyes. 
 She smiled, and to her pretty cheek 
 The dimples came ; in silence meek 
 She stood till Oxac first should speak, 
 Their custom such, and then with words 
 As musical as woodland birds 
 She filled his ears, repeating oft 
 Endearing phrase in accent soft. 
 Brief pauses, artless pleasantries 
 And happy answers, framed to please, 
 Instarred some moments of delay. 
 At lensjth, but with her eyes away. 
 As if her heart were other where, 
 Though all her soul was full of prayer : 
 
 *' My father — priceless boon I crave " — 
 
 " Say on, my child." 
 
 " His life ! the slave " 
 
 " The slave ! what slave indeed can claim 
 Zululu's care ? well may hot shame 
 Burn thus thy cheek ! what slave ? reply ! 
 For by my word the wretch shall die." 
 
 " Alas ! I only know 't is he 
 Whom cruel Murzi wrongs, the same 
 Whom Quizquo sent to succor me : 
 O nought of treachery or blame 
 
THE MAID OF ANAIIUAC. I05 
 
 Doth Stain his soul ! 't is he whose feet 
 Drew near the door of my retreat, 
 Else had I perished. If his fate 
 Be unpronounced — if not too late — 
 O Father — say he shall not die ! " 
 
 "Too late." 
 
 She caught the stern reply 
 And fell as if his clenched hand 
 Had struck her down. His cold command 
 Thrice given she heeded not, though heard — 
 " Zululu, rise ! " 
 
 Tone, look, and word. 
 The triple shaft sent not amiss. 
 Had struck with strange paralysis 
 Her warm young life. 
 
 Transfixed, amazed, 
 Old Oxac on his daughter gazed. 
 Cold, tearless, motionless ; all hushed 
 Her passion plea ! a blossom crushed 
 By icy hand were not more dead 
 To warmth and light, its sweet soul fled — 
 And yet not dead was she ; for long 
 The heart will throb, the pulse beat strong 
 When all that makes life glad and warm 
 Is frozen in some awful storm. 
 
 Till now, her every thought and sense 
 Had yielded prompt obedience, 
 Nor ever deemed his dictate ill, 
 Nor dared the deadline of his will. 
 
I06 ZULULU, 
 
 " Too late ! ' 
 
 She lies with breast unstirred 
 By hope or fear, while Oxac's word 
 On dumb rebellion falls and dies 
 Unnoticed. Anger, scorn, surprise, 
 Compassion, love his great soul seize 
 And swift through all their fixed degrees 
 Lead down to tenderness. 
 
 '' My child ! 
 What evil influence hath beguiled 
 Thy peace and wrought this hour of ill ? 
 Speak, daughter ! why so cold and still ? 
 Zululu ! " 
 
 But her eye is set 
 On nothingness, a dead regret 
 That wakes no sigh. 
 
 " Alas, some spell 
 Demoniac and terrible 
 Hath won her ! " 
 
 Filled with strange alarms 
 The father lifted in his arms 
 His stricken child and fled with haste 
 Forth, toward the temple. Eager-faced 
 The people followed. 
 
 '' Or in grief 
 Or wrath goes forth our mighty chief ? " 
 They questioned, though all tongues were mute. 
 Proud forms in homage absolute 
 Were bowed, he heeded none, nor aught, 
 Until his ear confusion caught. 
 Made dreadful with the shout of doom. 
 
THE MAID OF AN AH U AC. lO/ 
 
 As soldiers, from his dungeon gloom 
 Led forth the captive slave to die. 
 
 Upon the savage pageantry 
 
 The victim gazed. From some far height 
 
 His eye had caught a steadfast light, 
 
 His breast the calm of courage born ; 
 
 His proud lips wore a noble scorn 
 
 Of deeds ignoble. Threat and thrall, 
 
 The enginery of torture, all — 
 
 He scorned them, aye and death ; so strong 
 
 Becomes the soul inured to wrong 
 
 And fired by love, that from its track 
 
 Pain flees, and life itself stands back. 
 
 Much marvelling that he trembled not, 
 They led him to the fatal spot, 
 A broad low mound of ashen earth 
 Where not a blade of green had birth, 
 And bound him to a beam of oak, — 
 A ponderous beam by flame and smoke 
 Oft charred and blackened, it bespoke 
 The lengthened torture to be wrought ! 
 
CANTO XV. 
 
 FULFILMENT. 
 
 P RE yet the lighted brand was brought 
 ^ A silence signal, Murzi gave, 
 And stepping forth addressed the slave 
 
 " Seek not, O guilty wretch, to die 
 As die the brave, nor dare defy 
 The god of justice ; ere too late, 
 Confess thy crimes commensurate 
 With stern award." 
 
 The captive turned — 
 His breath came quick, his clear eye burned 
 With passion's fire. 
 
 " Contemptuous knave ! 
 Thy words become thee, noble brave ! 
 The gods thy virtues mark ! — confess ? 
 Aye, if to soothe Oxac's distress, 
 My service wearisome and long 
 Though fruitless — be a grievous wrong ; 
 And if it be a crime more base 
 To find, unsought, the hiding-place 
 Of lost Zululu— " 
 
 io8 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. IO9 
 
 '' List ! that tone ! 
 In Quizquo's cavern dark and lone 
 It spoke me life — it is the same ! 
 Methinks one called Zululu's name," 
 The maiden murmured, but the slave 
 Heard not her words. 
 
 *' Yet know, old brave, 
 Zululu loves me ! by and by, 
 My fetters broken, I shall fly 
 Beyond the shadows, and await 
 Her coming at the morning gate — 
 Mine own Zululu ! " 
 
 "Aye, 'tis he ! 
 Dear heart — Zululu dies with thee ! " 
 She cried, and sprang from Oxac's hold 
 Like some bright spirit uncontrolled, 
 And instant to the captive flew, 
 Her jewelled arms around him threw, 
 Her soft cheek to his bosom pressed ; 
 
 " Thus, Murzi, is my love confessed ! 
 
 My strength and purpose here are shown — 
 
 For know, he shall not die alone ! " 
 
 In faces stern, and scarred, and old, 
 Her young eyes flashed defiance bold. 
 The guard astonished, quailed as those 
 Who smite in dream.s immortal foes. 
 From whom their puny blows rebound 
 Without an echo. 
 
no ZULULU, 
 
 O'er and 'round, 
 A miracle of silence fell — 
 A moment awful with the spell 
 Of indecision. 
 
 Then was heard 
 An unimpassioned, low-voiced word 
 From Oxac — and one sped and brought 
 A gorgeous mantle richly wrought, 
 And laid it in the chieftain's hand. 
 Who with a gesture of command 
 Approached and spake : 
 
 '' Since to defy 
 The royal edict, is to die — 
 Accept thy doom, O hapless child ! 
 This wretch ignoble, and defiled 
 By crime — if thou with him wilt die — 
 Shall wear a robe of royalty, 
 This glittering robe-befitting thine, 
 Lost daughter of a noble line ! 
 Then — thou hast said it — by his side, 
 Zululu, shall thy love be tried ! " 
 
 At Oxac's word, away they tore 
 His garment, shred, and stained with gore, 
 All heedless of the quivering flesh. 
 And ghastly wound from which afresh 
 By rough hands prompted, trickled down 
 Bright drops upon his bosom brown — 
 When lo ! a gorget ^' one espied 
 And plucked it. Oxac, eager-eyed. 
 Observed it carefully, and then 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. Ill 
 
 With searching eyes the slave — again 
 The coin examined ! O'er and o'er 
 Close scanned the curious seal it bore — 
 The legend sought to read in vain, 
 So dizzy grew old Oxac's brain ! 
 Then to the slave : 
 
 " Speak ! by whose hand 
 Was this bestowed ? " 
 
 " At thy command 
 I answer, else my lips were sealed, 
 My name and lineage unrevealed. 
 My father, good King Kayi, placed 
 That sign upon my breast ; disgraced, 
 Condemned, yet am I Kayi's son, 
 Oribo." 
 
 " Gods ! what day ill-starred 
 Is this ? What dreadful deeds are done 
 To be repented ! " 
 
 Oxac cried ; 
 And thrusting back the quaking guard 
 Sprang quickly to the victim's side — 
 Caught cruel Murzi's gleaming blade 
 And smote his fetters, and unmade 
 The captive. 
 
 'T was a gracious deed 
 To fling the nuptial robe decreed 
 For Kaska, o'er the astonished youth. 
 **Ingemmed v\'ith innocence and truth, 
 And priceless love — 't is thine, O son 
 Of Kayi ! and this treasure won 
 From Oxac — thine — with all her charms ! " 
 
12 ZULULU, 
 
 He said, and to Oribo's arms 
 Released for rapturous embrace, 
 The maiden turned, her soulful face 
 Aglow with love — how pure, divine, 
 Oribo understood ; no word 
 Save but " Zululu ! " '' Ever thine ! " 
 The happy listening angels heard. 
 
 Thence Oxac to the palace led 
 
 The blissful pair, his good gray head 
 
 Uplifted into sunshine, where, 
 
 So clear the light, so pure the air, 
 
 No cloud his soul and sky between, 
 
 He felt the hand of Love unseen 
 
 Upon his brow, that bent to hear 
 
 Soft echoes which his outer ear 
 
 Had never caught. With wondering eyes 
 
 Again those dark old prophecies 
 
 He read — dream, sybil, bird — all held — 
 
 Though strangely, slowly syllabled 
 
 By years, a gracious meaning ; bright 
 
 It burst upon his raptured sight. 
 
 Bliss, brooded by a sombre wing ! 
 
 Within the captive was the king ! 
 
 And when anon, with proud acclaim. 
 Refreshed and rich apparelled came 
 Oribo from the royal bath. 
 The sun-god's smile illumed the path 
 Which brought him to the nuptial feast 
 To claim his bride. There sacred priest 
 
THE MAID OF ANAHUAC. I 13 
 
 With unctuous rite and solemn lore, 
 Sealed him the chieftain's son ! Aye more, 
 His blessing, heritage of power 
 Gave Oxac as his daughter's dower. 
 
 Some seasons more, a peaceful few, 
 And Oxac quietly withdrew 
 Into his summer house of rest, 
 
 From whence his mighty soul uprose, 
 Recalled to regions of the blessed, 
 
 Beyond the bound of earthly woes. 
 To share the chariot of the sun — 
 The grand award his life had won. 
 
 The oracle was verified. 
 
 As slave, Oribo won his bride — 
 
 As king he led her to a throne 
 
 His queen, where long her beauty shone 
 
 Resplendent, and her gentle name 
 
 To peerless virtues linked, became 
 
 The honored theme of olden song. 
 
 Good King Oribo well and long 
 
 Ruled Anahuac. But soft, speak low ! 
 
 Loud praise is not for those who rest 
 From work well done ! Enough to know 
 
 In stillest chamber sleep is best ! 
 And theirs — ah, well, so long ago 
 The gods received them, nought can break 
 Their slumber till His v/ord " Awake " 
 Bespeaks the morning. 
 
 What to them 
 
114 ZULULU. 
 
 The sceptre and the diadem, 
 
 The rise and fall of empires ? what 
 
 The countless loves of countless years 
 
 Since they through sorrows, hopes, and fears 
 
 Made blissful harbor ? 
 
 What avails 
 To watch the waves, or count the sails, 
 Or list the surging of the sea 
 That beats eternal shores ? 
 
 Each bark 
 Shall drift into a quiet lee, 
 And calmly anchor in the dark. 
 
 Although in some brief hour, and bright, 
 
 A distant sail we dimly sight 
 
 And speak it — and it gives no heed — 
 
 What matter ? anchorage is sure ! 
 And though we strain our eyes to read 
 
 The thought of time-dimmed tablature, 
 Or ancient record, or would trace 
 The footprints of a vanished race 
 Where shadows lie Vv'hich will not lift, 
 We know through deepest mould and drift, 
 Time holdeth these, and more, in trust. 
 Much all immortal lives in dust. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 1 A-na-wak', meaning " near the water." 
 
 2 Anahuac is an extensive plateau situated in the centre of 
 Mexico, at an average height of 7,000 feet above the level 
 of the sea — raised by volcanic force between the two oceans. 
 — Lippincoifs Pronouncuig Gazetteer of the World. 
 
 3 Ox'-ac. 
 
 4 The Mexicans punished with severity all the crimes which 
 are particularly repugnant to nature, or prejudicial to the state. 
 
 5 Wherever nature, in the perpetual struggle of matter to 
 restore an equilibrium, assumes power there they (primitive 
 peoples) are sure to locate a god. 
 
 6 Popocatepetl, pronounced Po-po-ka-ta-petl', meaning 
 •' smoking mountain." 
 
 7 The peaceful and semi-civilized Toltecan-man was once 
 the proud master of our continent, which he busily dotted with 
 forts and mounds, with mighty monuments and great cities.— 
 Schoolcraft's Aborigmal Races. 
 
 8 Iztapec, pronounced Ez'-ta-pak. 
 
 g Pictography was employed not only to beautify the inner 
 walls of temples and palaces, but also to record historical 
 events and religious rites. 
 
 115 
 
Il6 NOTES. 
 
 10 Zululu, pronounced Zoo-loo-loo. 
 
 1 1 In old paintings a female figure is represented with hair 
 flowing in long tresses and adorned with jewels. The Toltecas 
 were fond of wearing dresses of showy colors, and excelled in 
 the fabrications of cloth and hangings. — Kingsborough. 
 
 12 Cholula, pronounced Cho-loo'-la. 
 
 13 Nahuas, pronounced Na-hoo'-as. 
 
 14 Quetzalcoatle, " Feathered Serpent." Date of his first 
 appearance a little before the middle of the ist century. 
 
 15 Quetzalcoatle, pronounced Ket-zal-cow-attle. 
 
 16 Hue-Hue-Tlaplan, pronounced Hoo-a' Hoo-a' Tlap'-lan. 
 
 17 Tamoanchan, pronounced Tam-o-an-shan'. 
 
 18 Tulla pronounced Yool'-ya. 
 
 19 Kayi, pronounced Ka'-ye. 
 
 20 Xibalba, pronounced He-bal-ba. 
 
 21 Zinco, pronounced Zeen'-co. 
 
 22 The Mexicans taught their children, together with the 
 arts, religion, modesty, honesty, sobriety, labor, love of truth 
 and respect to superiors. 
 
 23 Bacca, pronounced Biic-ca. 
 
 24 Kaska, pronounced Kaz-ka, 
 
 25 Votan, pronounced Vo'-tan, founder of the Maya culture. 
 One of the great works of this hero was the excavation of a 
 tunnel, "Snake-hole," from Zuqui to Tzequil. 
 
 26 Usumasintas, pronounced Oo-soo-ma-seen-tas. 
 
 27 Nachan, pronounced Na-shan, city of serpents. 
 
 28 Maya, pronounced Ma-ya. 
 
 29 Kayi, pronounced Ka'-ye. 
 
 30 Chan, pronounced Shan, serpent. 
 
 31 Katun, pronounced Ka-toon, cycle of fifty-two years. 
 
NO TES. 1 1 7 
 
 The Katun year consisted of twenty-eight weeks of thirteen 
 days each, and one additional day. 
 
 32 Tetan, pronounced Ya-tan'. 
 
 33 Oribo pronounced 0-ree-bo. 
 
 34 The rabbit was considered as a type of innocence. 
 
 35 The murder of Chaac Mai, a powerful sovereign of 
 Chicken-Itza, by his brother Aac, is still told in stone. The 
 funeral chamber, the mural paintings, the statues, and the 
 monument of the murdered king, are found by the explorer. 
 In the funeral chamber the terrible altercation between Aac 
 and Chaac Mai is represented by large figures three fourths 
 life-size. — Dr. Le Plongeon. 
 
 36 A tablet from the ruins at Palenque represents a beautiful 
 youth arrayed in an elaborate military dress and plumed crest 
 of magnificent character. He wears w^hat appears to be a 
 cuirass about his shoulders and chest. 
 
 37 Among the ruins at Palenqua are those of a palace 228 
 feet by 182, and about 30 feet in height. In the outer wall 
 are forty doorways. The double cornices are highly artistic. 
 This palace had double corridors. It is presumed that nearly 
 all of the piers separating the doorways in the eastern wall of 
 the palace were ornamented with stucco bas-reliefs. On the 
 wall of its inner apartment is said to have been the most 
 beautiful specimen of stucco relief in America. M. Waldec 
 declares it worthy to be compared to the most beautiful work 
 of the Augustan age. 
 
 38 They had in every city or village a public place or 
 square appropriated for the traffic of everything which could 
 supply the necessities and pleasures of life. Even merchan- 
 dise had its particular place. 
 
Il8 NOTES. 
 
 39 The ancient Mexicans had a superstition that in the last 
 night of the fifty-second year of their cycle the sun would 
 destroy the world. — John Short. 
 
 Their ancestors had from time immemorial admonished them 
 that such years as succeeded each other after every interval of 
 fifty-two years would be dangerous, unlucky, calamitous, on 
 account of the universal deluge having taken place in such a 
 year, and likewise darkness caused by an eclipse of the sun, 
 and earthquakes everywhere, — Kingsborough. 
 
 40 Great attention was paid to the flight of birds. The 
 carnivora, or battle-birds, were thought to be prescient of the 
 times and places of conflict, and their gathering to fatten upon 
 the dead on the battle-field was regarded with forebodings. 
 
 41 Quizquo, pronounced Queez'-ko. 
 
 42 The ancient Mexicans paid a superstitious reverence to 
 the summits of high mountains which were perpetually covered 
 with mists and dark clouds, believing them to be the abodes of 
 their mountain gods. 
 
 43 The pointed mace or head-breaker was a most formidable 
 weapon. 
 
 44 The great struggle was often at the gates in a desperate 
 hand-to-hand encounter. 
 
 45 Tobacco was smoked by the ancient tribes. Their pipes, 
 elaborately carved, differed from those of to-day chiefly by 
 having no stems. 
 
 46 The men were very expert in the cutting and setting of 
 precious stones. 
 
 47 Manabaho, pronounced Man-a-baz-ho', excelled in his 
 superhuman and god-like feats. He killed the mammoth ser- 
 pent and bear-king. 
 
NOTES. 119 
 
 48 Papukewis, pronounced Pap-oo-kwees, could turn pirou- 
 ettes until he raised a whirlwind. 
 
 49 Kwasind pronounced Kwa-seend, could twist off the 
 strongest rope. These things were related to stimulate the 
 physical powers of the young. 
 
 50 They were accustomed to decorate the inner walls of 
 their temples with vermilion-red ochre. Flowers, fruits, 
 heroes, gods, always the Feathered Serpent, were painted or 
 sculptured on the walls. 
 
 51 Hurling stones was done wath great skill and precision. 
 
 52 Murzi, pronounced Moor'-zee. 
 
 53 The ancient gorget or medal, bestowed as a mark of 
 distinction, was highly prized by the possessor. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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