Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/202

194 they found themselves in a large hall filled with rich stuffs, costly ornaments and gold, silver and precious stones. "I was a young man when I saw it," says Bernal Diaz, "and it seemed to me as if all the treasures of the world were in that room." "Hands off!" was a hard command in the face of such a treasure, but Cortez was able to enforce it. He gave orders that the hole should be sealed up, and that for the present no one should mention what he knew of Montezuma's secret hoards.