Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/156

148 this image was formally presented to the Aztec chiefs, with the request that they would set it up in their temple instead of those of the bloodthirsty gods which they worshiped. The Aztecs accepted this gift very gravely, thinking, perhaps, it was not safe to dispute with preachers who could back their arguments with horses and cannon.

The next morning the Spanish sentinel, when he looked in the direction of the Indian huts by which the camp was surrounded, found that they were all deserted; the natives had stolen away in the night. The venders of fruit, vegetables and poultry on which the army had depended for its supplies had vanished, and the invaders were left between the sea and the woods with no certain prospect of sustenance from either. The outlook was very gloomy. The low, hot, unhealthy beach where they were encamped became a place of graves for the Spaniards. Many an ambitious adventurer was laid under the shadow of those tall trees while they were there. The survivors became more and more discontented and despondent.

Cortez resolved not only to seek a better situation, but, when it was found, to build a city which would serve as a base of supplies for his army and show the people of the country that he had come to stay. Most of his men had but one idea: they had come to make what money they could in a short visit, and to go back to Cuba with their spoils. Cortez, who had heard of the rich and prosperous tribes in the interior, believed he had only to cross the mountains rising behind the camp like a wall to reach a land of fabulous wealth and fertility. He determined not to wait for any invitation from Montezuma, but to push his way to the capital, see the famous chief in his