Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/169

Rh against the icy blast as against the Mexican arrows which they were intended to ward off, but the poor half-clad Cuban porters died by scores along the way. The soldiers, benumbed with cold and suffering with hunger and thirst, were three days dragging their heavy cannon over these mountains.

After leaving this dreary region the Spaniards came to a high valley on the mountain-side, where they found houses of hewn stone larger and better built than any they had yet seen in the country. Elegantly furnished apartments were put at their disposal by a chief whom Cortez styles "lord of the valley." When this man was asked if he was a subject of Montezuma, he drew himself up proudly and asked, "Who is not a subject of Montezuma?" as though he would say, "Is he not master of the world?" Cortez insisted that His Lordship should do homage to the king of Spain, demanding some gold as a token of his obedience.

This ceremony was easily understood by the Aztec. He consented to send to Montezuma this challenge from the white man, adding,

"If Montezuma commands me to do so, I will give you not gold only, but myself and all that I possess."

Next to the Aztecs, no tribe makes such a figure in Mexican history as the Tlascalans, a race of bold and hardy mountaineers who inhabited elevated valleys between Mexico and the Gulf. Cortez had taken a road which led him near this region. He was advised by the Totonacs to secure the good-will of this tribe, and, if possible, to enter into league with it. For generations it had been at war with the Aztecs, and never once had