Page:Romance of History, Mexico.djvu/85

 was patiently reaping this plant, the seed of which made a pleasing drink. The prince flung himself at her feet, and swiftly she piled over him the stalks she had been cutting, and turned once more to her labour. The pursuers passed by and Nezahualcoyotl breathed again. On another occasion he was hidden by some loyal soldiers in a large drum, around which they were dancing. Even torture could not wring from the faithful people the secret of the hiding-places of their prince, and they only awaited an opportunity to rise against the Tepanec tyrant.

The opportunity came when the Mexicans, now a powerful nation, proffered their aid. The Tepanecs were defeated, and the usurper was dragged from his palace, sacrificed with all the bloody rites of the fierce Aztec religion, and the Tezcucan king was restored to his throne.

This was the glorious age in the annals of Anahuac on which the Tezcucan chronicler loves to dwell. Guided by Nezahualcoyotl, the wisest and most enlightened of Indian monarchs, the three powers of Tezcuco, Mexico, and Tlacopan made an alliance so triumphant and so steadfast that it endured unbroken until the coming of a strange white nation wrought ruin to all the glories of this wonderful Indian race.

Glories indeed they were. Even the proud princes of Europe need not have disdained to imitate some of the institutions of the Indian Nezahualcoyotl. What king at that time could boast in his realm a council of music? Great power had this body in Tezcuco, and many were its duties. It encouraged and supervised, not music only, but every 63