Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/193

Rh "But few of them," he coolly says, "returned to give the information they were sent to obtain."

At Ajotzineo, as the army were about to leave, they were asked to wait, as Cacama, the young chief of Tezcuco, was on his way to give the strangers a formal welcome to the valley. He was a young man of about twenty-five years of age, erect and proud, as became an Indian chief, coming in a splendid litter borne on the shoulders of men. As he alighted his attendants began to gather the stones which strewed his path, and to sweep it clean for his richly-sandaled feet. As he advanced into the presence of the general he bowed to touch the earth, and then raised his right hand to his head—a Mexican token of respect to a person of high rank now common in Oriental lands. Cacama was bearer of another chilling message from Montezuma. It was Montezuma's earnest wish that the strangers would be satisfied to stay away; but if they were still determined to visit him, he would receive them at his home, as he was too ill to come to meet them.

After an exchange of presents and of brief speeches through Marina as interpreter the Spaniards marched out of Ajotzinco to the causeway across Lake Chalco, a well-built structure wide enough in some places for eight horsemen to ride abreast. The lake was alive with canoes, in most of which were sightseers gliding in and out from among the chinampas, or floating gardens, which lined the causeway.

About three miles out in Lake Chalco, Cortez spied a fortress rising out of the water; it was well defended with towers and capable of holding from one to two thousand