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156 a flutter of excitement by a demand from the council of Mexico for twenty young men and maidens to be sacrificed on the high altar there; this was intended as a punishment for daring to entertain the strangers without permission. Cortez saw his opportunity; he ordered his new allies to seize these messengers and put them in prison. The poor Cempoallans shrank in terror, not daring to offer such an affront to their haughty Aztec masters. On the other hand were these mysterious strangers, who might crush them while professing to shield them from their oppressors. But Cortez was firm. Would they break with their Aztec masters or with him? Of the two evils, the puzzled Cempoallans chose what seemed to be the least: they resolved to throw themselves on the mercy of a Spanish rather than a Mexican conqueror, and the surprised tax-collectors were soon thrust behind prison-bars. But they did not gnash their teeth with rage there very long, for Cortez, unknown to his allies, contrived to set them free that night, got them on board of one of his ships, and took them to a point where they could land with safety and speed back to Mexico to tell their story to the council, while, at the same time, he made a bid for Aztec friendship by thus delivering them. While the Totonacs were thus dependent on Cortez to shield them from Aztec vengeance, Cortez determined to bring them into the true Church; he therefore took an opportunity to pay them a religious visit. He first tried by smooth words to persuade them to give up their idols. Finding that these would not avail, he impatiently ordered fifty of his men to mount the steps of the temple and demolish the idols with their pikes. The angry chief stormed and threatened that if this order was carried