Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/263

Rh have done otherwise. I said that, because I did not believe Qualpopoca's excuse of his fault, it seemed to me that he ought to send for him, and the other chiefs who had helped him in the murder of the Spaniards, so that the truth might be known, and they be punished, and Your Majesty might clearly perceive his good disposition. Otherwise the reports of those wicked men might provoke Your Highness to anger against him, from which, instead of the favours Your Highness would now grant him, evil would result; for I was convinced that the truth was contrary to what they declared. He immediately sent for certain of his people, to whom he gave a small stone figure, like a seal, which he wore tied to his arm, ordering them to go to the city of Almeria, which is about sixty or seventy leagues from that of Muxtitan (Mexico), and bring the said Qualpopoca; to ascertain what others had taken part in the murder of the Spaniards, and to bring them likewise; and, if they resisted, to bring them as prisoners, and, if they should resist imprisonment, to call upon certain tribes in the neighborhood, which he then named, to seize them by force of arms; but on no account to return without them.

These men immediately left, and, after they had gone, I told Montezuma that I was very grateful to him for the diligence he had used in the imprisonment of those men, for I must render an account to Your Royal Highness for those murdered Spaniards. To enable me to give this, it now only remained that he should stop in my quarters, until the truth was established, and it was known that he was blameless. I earnestly prayed him not to feel pained at this, because he would not be kept a prisoner, but would have entire liberty; that I would place no impediment to his service and authority in his dominions, and that he might choose any room he pleased in the palace where I was, where he should remain at his pleasure, well assured that he should suffer no annoyance