Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/192

184 but to exceed, their own. Nothing but his own indomitable courage and towering ambition upheld Cortez as he led the little band of his countrymen over these mountain-walls, whose gates now seemed to close behind him and to shut out all hope of rescue should help be needed. Looking westward from their lofty perch, the soldiers saw the Lake of Chalco, with its island-city and numerous white-walled hamlets peeping out from embowering trees or half hidden amid the luxuriant fields of corn and maguey.

It was daybreak when the army began to descend into the Valley of Mexico. They soon reached a well-built town on the mountain-side, now called Amaquemeca. Here they were kindly received by an Aztec official, who kept them two days and supplied them with abundance of provisions and with the gold which they coveted more than all else. Envoys from Mexico received them here, and went with them a march of twelve miles to their first resting-place in the valley. This was in Ajotzineo, a town built partly on the shelving side of the mountain and partly on piles in the lake. The streets of this lower part were all canals, and were alive with the canoes of market-men bringing provisions into the city from suburban gardens, and of others who ministered to the needs of a large population.

The night spent in Ajotzineo was one of great anxiety to the vigilant general. Indian friends had informed him that an attack might be looked for here, and pointed to villagers who came down the mountains or entered by the canal, eager to see the strangers. Cortez professed to take them all for spies, and, probably intending to create a wholesome awe at the outset, ordered the guard to shoot fifteen or twenty of these over-curious visitors.