Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/35

 Tesaico; and they said we would be welcome and they would go ahead and prepare quarters for the Spaniards and myself. On reaching these two towns, some of their chiefs came out to meet us and bring us food.

About noon, we reached the body of the city where they had prepared our quarters in a very large house,  Cortes arrives at Texcoco which had belonged to the father of Guanacacin, lord of the said city. Before we entered our quarters, I assembled our people, and proclaimed by the public crier that no one under penalty of death should leave the quarters without my permission. The building was so large that double the number of Spaniards could have lodged comfortably in it. I did this so that the natives of the city might be reassured and return to their homes, because it seemed to me that we did not see a tenth part of the people usually found in the city, nor any women and children; which was an alarming sign. On the day we entered the city, which was New Year's Eve, I disposed our quarters, and, still somewhat disquieted on account of the few people, and seeing these so uneasy, the thought struck us that they refrained from showing themselves and going about the city on account of fear, which somewhat quieted our apprehensions. Towards evening, certain Spaniards mounted some lofty terraces, from whence they could observe the whole town, and they saw that all the natives were abandoning it, some putting their effects in canoes (which they call acales) on the lake, and others going up into the hills. Although I immediately ordered their departure to be stopped, it was already so late that night overtook us, and, as they used such great haste, it was useless. Thus the chief of the city, whom I longed, as for my salvation, to have in my hands, escaped with many of the other chiefs to the city of Temixtitan, which by the lake is six leagues from there, taking away all their possessions. For this