Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/168

148 charge them. When the shots were being fired and while landing they wounded some of us, but finally, in consequence of our rapid charges, and of the attack in the rear by those who had gone by the road, they fled, leaving us the town, and we took possession of that part of it which seemed to us the stronger.

The next day following, at the hour of vespers, two Indians,The appearance of the ships of de Cordoba and Grijalba, and the fighting in Yucatan, were quickly reported to Montezuma, whose superstitious mind was so affected by events, in which he saw the disasters to himself and his people foretold by Quetzalcoatl, that his first impulse was to save himself by some enchantment or incantation, which should translate him to the abode, or Walhalla, of the famous kings and demi-gods of antiquity. The simultaneous apparition of a great comet in the sky confirmed these forebodings, and he gave himself entirely into the hands of his diviners and necromancers, who exercised all their resources of interpreting dreams, reading signs in natural phenomena, and studying the heavens, to obtain direction for their sovereign in his perplexity. Many, whose dreams presaged evil, were starved to death or put to tortures; a reign of terror set in, and none dared to speak in the sovereign's presence, while the prisons were full of luckless magicians, and death penalties were inflicted even upon their families in the provinces (Duran, cap. lviii., and Tezozomoc. apud Orozco y Berra, tom. iv., cap. ii.). As the proofs of the presence of the white strangers in their floating houses accumulated, despite Montezuma's reluctance to believe the reports which were repeatedly brought to him, the sovereign fell into a state of profound depression, and despairing of warding off the ominous presence, he ordered costly gifts to be especially made, and he sent the two envoys, Teutlamacazqui and Cuitlalpitoc, to Pinotl, governor of Cuetlachtla, commanding him to provide in every way for the reception and entertainment of the celestial guests. After the departure of Grijalba's men, the fears of Montezuma somewhat subsided, and he persuaded himself that he had staved off the impending disaster. The governor of the coast provinces, however, had strict orders to keep watch, and immediately report any further appearance of the fearsome strangers. Hence the arrival of Cortes, nine months later, was at once announced, by fleet messengers, to the Emperor, who decided in council to send ambassadors to welcome him, and bring exact information concerning all they could see and learn. Thus, on Easter Day, the twenty-fourth of April, Teuhtlilli, governor of Cuetlachtla and Cuitlalpitoc, who had been before sent to Grijalba, appeared before Cortes. While extending the welcome his superstitious fears forbade him to on the part of the caciques, came to us,