wore to treat him with all honour. By his side sat Teule, my
husband and your friend; him Cortes gave over to has private enemy,
de Garcia, whom you name Sarceda. See how he has left him. Nay, do not
shudder, gentle lady; look now at his wounds! Consider to what a pass we
are driven when you find us about to die thus like dogs, he, my husband,
that he may not live to see me handled as he has been, and I with him,
because a princess of the Otomie and of Montezuma's blood cannot submit
to such a shame while death has one door through which to creep. It is
but a single grain of your harvest, outcast and traitress, the harvest
of misery and death that is stored yonder in the ruins of Tenoctitlan.
Had I my will, I tell you that I had sooner die a score of times than
take help from a hand so stained with the blood of my people and of
yours--I--'

'Oh! cease, lady, cease,' groaned Marina, covering her eyes with her
hand, as though the sight of Otomie were dreadful to her. 'What is done
is done; do not add to my remorse. What did you say, that you, the lady
Otomie, were brought here to be tortured?'

'Even so, and before my husband's eyes. Why should Montezuma's daughter
and the princess of the Otomie escape the fate of the emperor of the
Aztecs? If her womanhood does not protect her, has she anything to hope
of her lost rank?'

'Cortes knows nothing of this, I swear it,' said Marina. 'To the rest
he has been driven by the clamour of the soldiers, who taunt him with
stealing treasure that he has never found. But of this last wickedness
he is innocent.'

'Then let him ask his tool Sarceda of it.'

'As for Sarceda, I promise you, princess, that if I can I will avenge
this threat upon him. But time is short, I am come here with the
knowledge of Cortes, to see if I can win the secret of the treasure from
Teule, your husband, and for my friendship's sake I am about to betray
my trust and help him and you to fly. Do you refuse my aid?'

Otomie said nothing, but I spoke for the first time.

'Nay, Marina, I have no love for this thief's fate if I can escape it,
but how is it to be done?'

'The chance is poor enough, Teule, but I bethought me that once out of
this prison you might slip away disguised. Few will be stirring at dawn,
and of them the most will not be keen to notice men or things. See, I
have brought you the dress of a Spanish soldier; your skin is dark, and
in the half light you might pass as one; and for the princ