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Some of the descendants of Indian chiefs who were carried to Spain became noblemen in their adopted country. Two of them wrote histories of ancient Mexico. The pictures of imperial splendor with which they dazzled the eyes of their European readers were, no doubt, highly colored to suit the times and to vindicate their own claim to rank with the princes of Spain. The brightest figure which they describe is that of a chief who was, no doubt, a king among men, whatever may have been his office or his title. The story of his boyhood and his youth is a picture of life in one of the palatial houses of Mexico during one of its stormiest ages.

About one hundred years before the Spanish came into the valley the city of Tezcuco was taken by its neighbors, the Tepanacs, and its people were brought under tribute to the conquerors. The son of the Tezcucan chief was then a boy of fifteen just graduated from school, and probably out in his first battle. When the Tezcucans were forced to retreat, the boy took refuge in a tree. While hiding there he saw his father and a few faithful followers overpowered by the enemy and literally cut to pieces. He waited until the victors had gone, when he cautiously made his way down and fled away, only to be discovered and carried in triumph to the Tepanac city. With fettered hands and a yoke about his neck, he moved on with a sad procession of captives through the fields and the forests, across the lake, and on and on till they reached the flower-wreathed arches under which the Tepanac elders and women greeted their victorious army with songs of welcome. He was led to the temple to bow before the idol, and then, with other prisoners, to await the death which his captors should choose for him. In