Part 4 (2/2)

As Cortez entered the gates of the city, he was met and welcomed with great pomp by the cacique of Zempoalla. He was excessively corpulent, but very polite and highly polished in his manners. Marina and Aguilar acted as interpreters.

”I am come,” said Cortez, ”from the ends of the earth. I serve a monarch who is powerful, and whose goodness equals his power. He has sent me hither, that I may give some account of the inhabitants of this part of the world. He has commanded me to do good to all men, and particularly to aid the oppressed and to punish their oppressors. To you, Lord of Zempoalla, I offer my services. Whatever you may command, I and my troops will cheerfully perform.”

The cacique of Zempoalla replied,

”Gracious stranger, I can not sufficiently commend your benevolence, and none can stand more in need of it. You see before you a man wearied out with unmerited wrongs. I and my people are crushed and trodden under foot by the most tyrannical power upon earth. We were once an independent and a happy people, but the prosperity of the Totonacs is now destroyed. The power of our n.o.bles is gone. We are robbed of the produce of our fields. Our sons are torn from us for sacrifices, and our daughters for slaves.

”The Mexicans are our conquerors and oppressors. They heap these calamities upon us, robbing us of our substance, and despoiling us of our children. In the pride of aggression, they have marched from conquest to conquest, till they gather tribute from every land. And now, mighty warrior, we implore of thy strength and kindness that thou wouldst enable us to resist these tyrants, and deliver us from their exactions.”

Cortez warily replied: ”I will gladly aid you, but let us not be rash.

I will dwell with you a while, and whenever I shall see a suitable occasion to punish your enemies and to relieve you from their impositions, you may rely upon my aid to humble their pride and power.”

The rugged army of Cortez then advanced through the streets of Zempoalla to the s.p.a.cious court-yard of the temple a.s.signed for their accommodation. As in solid column, with floating banners and bugle notes, they paraded the streets, headed by the cavalry of sixteen horses, animals the Totonacs had never seen before, and followed by the lumbering artillery--instruments, in the eyes of the Totonacs, of supernatural power--which, with thunder roar, sped lightning bolts, the natives gazed with admiration upon the imposing spectacle, and the air resounded with their applause.

The next morning Cortez, with most of his army, continued his march some twelve miles farther to meet his fleet at Quiabislan. The cacique hospitably sent with him four hundred _men of burden_ to convey his baggage. The spot which had been selected as the site of the new town, which was to be the capital of the Spanish colony, met the approbation of Cortez. He immediately commenced erecting huts and surrounding the town with fortifications of sufficient strength to resist any a.s.sault from the natives. Every man in the army, the officers as well as the soldiers, engaged laboriously in this work. No one toiled in this enterprise with more patient endurance than the extraordinary commander of this extraordinary band. The Totonacs from Zempoalla and Quiabislan, encouraged by their caciques, also lent their aid to the enterprise with hearty good will. Thousands of hands were thus employed; provisions flowed into the camp in all abundance, and the works proceeded with great rapidity. The vicinity was densely populated, and large numbers of the listless natives, women and children, were attracted to the spot to witness the busy scene, so novel and so exciting.

But such proceedings could not escape the vigilance of the officers of Montezuma. In the midst of this state of things, suddenly one day a strange commotion was witnessed in the crowd, and the natives, both people and chiefs, gave indications of great terror. Five strangers appeared--tall, imposing men, with bouquets of flowers in their hands, and followed by obsequious attendants. Haughtily these strangers pa.s.sed through the place, looking sternly upon the Spaniards, without deigning to address them either by a word or a gesture. They were lords from the court of Montezuma. Their power was invincible and terrible. They had witnessed with their own eyes these rebellious indications of the subjects of Mexico. The chiefs of the Totonacs turned pale with consternation. All this was explained to Cortez by Marina.

The Totonac chiefs were imperiously summoned to appear immediately before the lords of Montezuma. Like terrified children they obeyed.

Soon they returned, trembling, to Cortez, and informed him that the Mexican lords were indignant at the support which they had afforded the Spaniards, contrary to the express will of their emperor, and that they demanded as the penalty twenty young men and twenty young women of the Totonacs, to be offered in sacrifice to their G.o.ds.

Cortez a.s.sumed an air of indignation and of authority as he eagerly availed himself of this opportunity of promoting an open rupture between the Totonacs and the Mexicans. He declared that he would never consent to any such abominable practices of heathenism. He haughtily commanded the Totonac chiefs immediately to arrest the lords of Montezuma, and throw them into prison. The poor chiefs were appalled beyond measure at the very idea of an act so irrevocable and so unpardonable. They had long been accustomed to consider Montezuma as possessing power which nothing on earth could resist. Montezuma swayed the sceptre of a Caesar, and bold indeed must he be who would venture to brave his wrath.

But, on the other hand, they had already offended beyond hope of pardon by entertaining the intruders contrary to the positive command of their sovereign. Twenty of their sons and daughters were to bleed upon the altars of sacrifice. Their only hope was now in Cortez.

Should he abandon them, they were ruined hopelessly. They deemed it possible that, with the thunder and the lightning at his command, he might be able to set at defiance that mighty Mexican power which had hitherto been found invincible.

In this dreadful dilemma, they yielded to the inexorable demand of Cortez, and tremblingly arrested the Mexican lords. The Rubicon was now pa.s.sed. The Totonacs were from that moment the abject slaves of Cortez. Their only protection from the most awful doom was in his strong arm, and their persons, their property, their all, were entirely at his disposal.

Cortez then condescended to perform a deed of cunning and of perfidy which has left a stain upon his character which never can be washed away. In the night he ordered one of his people secretly to a.s.sist two of the Mexican lords in their escape. They were privately brought into his presence. With guileful words, which ought to have blistered his tongue, he declared that they, by their arrest, had received insult and outrage from the Totonacs, which he sincerely regretted, and would gladly have prevented. He a.s.sured them of the great pleasure which it afforded him to aid them in their escape. He promised to do every thing in his power to secure the release of the others, and wished them to return to the court of their monarch, and a.s.sure him of the friendly spirit of the Spaniards, of which this act was to be a conspicuous proof. He then sent six strong rowers to convey them secretly in a boat beyond the reach of pursuit. The next morning, in the same guileful way, all the rest were liberated, and sent with a similar message to the court of Montezuma.

Such was the treachery with which Cortez rewarded his faithful allies.

With perfidy so detestable, he endeavored to foment civil discord in the empire of Montezuma, pretending to be himself the friend of each of the parties whose hostility he had excited, and ready to espouse either side which might appear most available for the promotion of his ambitious plans. History has no language too severe to condemn an action so utterly abominable. It is treason to virtue to speak mildly of atrocious crime.

Cortez named the infant city he was erecting The Rich City of the True Cross, _Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz_. ”The two principles of avarice and enthusiasm,” says Robertson, ”which prompted the Spaniards in all their enterprises in the New World, seem to have concurred in suggesting the name which Cortez bestowed on his infant settlement.”

This city was a few miles north of the present city of Vera Cruz.

While Cortez was busily employed in laying the foundations of his colony, and gathering around him native aid in preparation for a march into the interior, another emba.s.sy from the court of Montezuma appeared in the busy streets of Vera Cruz. The Mexican emperor, alarmed by the tidings he received of the persistent boldness of the Spaniards, and of their appalling and supernatural power, deemed it wise to accept the courtesy which had been offered him in the liberation of his imprisoned lords, and to adopt a conciliatory policy. The Totonacs were amazed by this evidence that even the mighty Montezuma was overawed by the power of the Spaniards. This greatly increased their veneration for their European allies.

CHAPTER V.

THE TLASCALANS SUBJUGATED.

Exultation of the Totonacs.--The eight maidens and their baptism.

--Endeavors to induce the acceptance of Christianity.--The result.

--Fanaticism of the Spaniards.--Destruction of the idols.--Dismay of the Indians.--Celebration of ma.s.s.--The harangue.--The change.

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