I. Overview
In chapters 33-36 of Montazuma’s Daughter we learn that several years have gone by since the Spanish invasion and that Cortes has returned to Spain. Thomas is living in the City of Pines with Otomie and their son in peace, until the sacrifice of Father Pedro, by the pabas of a local tribe.  With the sacrifice of Father Pedro, whom Thomas refuses to save, the Spanish declare war on the City of Pines; this time the women take matters into their own hands. The women take some Spanish as prisoners where they are brought to the stone of sacrifice. Thomas saves whom he can from death, knowing perhaps that his good deed will be rewarded. The entranced women kill themselves for Huitzel leaving no women of Otomie, except one, Otomie herself.  For three days the Spanish plead for the survivors to surrender leading them to believe that they will live if they will turn over all who participated in the human sacrifice. Thomas informs the Spanish that there are no survivors of the human sacrifice, but there is Thomas, his family and a few other men that have survived and they want to be set free to go where they wish.  In the end a pardon is granted from Captain Bernal Diaz, for Thomas, his family, and the few men left on the teocalli with the exception that there land will no longer be theirs.  Here, yet again Thomas escapes death.
II. Analysis

In chapters 33-36 Haggard uses imagery to convey vengeance. The first scene involves Father Pedro being led to the stone of sacrifice where  “…before the image of a hideous idol that was set upon a stake and surrounded with piles of skulls” (Haggard 270).  Next the women of Otomie become entranced  where “the mob of women cast themselves upon the weary Spaniards and Tlascalans, bearing them down with the weight of their numbers” (Haggard 285).  The women, enduring so much loss in such a short period of time, rage and frighten the Spanish and gain what little control they could.  Thomas, soon after, can hear the suffering of the women of Otomie “… with its sobs, its cries of triumph, and its death wailings” (Haggard 294).  Last the possessed women, and the men that have joined them, commit mass suicide where “…suddenly they were GONE, the women of Otomie were no more!” (Haggard 294).
III. Questions

1. What is the importance of the possession of the women of Otomie by Huitzel?
2. Why does Thomas disavow his relations with Otomie?

I. Overview

“DEAD! DEAD!”Otomie cries about their son, as Thomas is dining with Bernal Diaz  (Haggard, 301) . The reader discovers that de Garcia is the murderer and he is fleeing the City of Pines. Thomas chases de Garcia to the top of volcan Xaca. De Garcia admits that he killed Donna Luisa, that he did it because he loves her and that he has feared Thomas and his vengeance ever since. De Garcia then goes mad, throwing himself into the volcano. Thomas is glad that de Garcia is dead but grieves that he “let him die otherwise than by my hand” (Haggard, 309). When Thomas returns to Otomie, Thomas hears her final declaration, of her undying love. Otomie regrets that Thomas never really loved her only her through her actions and their children. Otomie dies by her own hand with poison after cursing Thomas’ future children with Lily. With nothing left for him in the land of the Aztecs Thomas returns to England. Thomas finds Lily but he pretends he is another. Thomas uses this ruse to learn whether Lily still loves him. Thomas, through this ploy, confesses to Lily that “Thomas” has married another in his travels and that “Thomas” has died. Lily admits that she knows the man she is talking to is in fact Thomas Wingfield, the man she has waited for all these years, and she forgives him for all his transgressions. Thomas closes these memoirs by stating that Lily is now dead and that he now awaits a reunion with her at the gates of Heaven.

II. Analysis

Loss and gain are the central themes in these final chapters. The loss arises from the characters' quest for satisfaction with disregard to their faith. The gains allow characters to return to their God with a feeling of peace. Otomie spends many year’s of her life being true to her husband, sacrificing her religious beliefs. In the end, Otomie says “I renounce your Gods and I seek my own,” (Haggard 313). For Otomie the loss of her life brings the
reward of seeing her children, and her people, once again. In this Haggard shows that Otomie, seeking Thomas’ love, above the love of her chosen Gods has brought grief. Finding her Gods once again she is able to be at peace.

Marina is a character who achieves power but never gains; she returns to her faith, but her reward is nothing. For Thomas his vengeance is lost when de Garcia takes his own life, but his vengeance is driven by hate. So in de Garcia’s death Thomas gains the knowledge of the true reason why de Garcia killed Donna Luisa, and at long last, he witnesses the death of de Garcia. His death is not at Thomas’ hand, but he “watched it fall from heaven, and was content.” (Haggard 311) God is the final judge, not Thomas. The Teules fight hard to keep the Aztec nation from annihilation for reasons that included prizes of family, wealth and power, but when the City of Pines is surrendered the reader feels as if Thomas is realizing only life and faith in God will make things right, and it is so. With Thomas’ final return to England his path leads to Lily, joy and God. Haggard uses Lily to drive home the point, she is the one through the whole story that NEVER loses faith that Thomas will come back and in the end she is the winner. For the reader the loss of finishing the final page of the book brings us the reward of enlightenment, a better (yet fictionalized) understanding of the history of the Aztec empire.

1. How does Otomie's curse reflect the loss and gain theme?
2.  Why does Haggard put that one “last adventure” (Haggard, 318) of the thief firing upon Thomas?