Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/36

 reason, and to save what they wanted, those messengers had come to see me as I have said above, so as to delay me somewhat, that upon entering the city I might do them no harm; and that night they thus abandoned not only us but also their city.

Three days thus elapsed in this city without any encounter with the Indians, for they neither dared to attack us, nor were we disposed to go out far searching for them, as my final intention was, that if ever they should wish to come seeking peace, to receive them, and to always require this of them. At this time the lords of Coatinchan, Guaxuta, and Autengo, which are three of their large towns, and are, as I have said, incorporated and joined to the said city, came, weeping, to ask me to pardon them for having absented themselves from their country, saying that they had never fought with me, at least not of their own free will, and promising hereafter and henceforth to do all that I might command them in the name of Your Majesty. I told them, through the interpreters, that they had already known the good treatment I had always shown them, and that, in leaving their country and the rest, they had done wrong; but, inasmuch as they promised to be our friends, they must inhabit their homes, and bring back their wives and children, and I would treat them according to their deeds. They went back, as it seemed to us, not very well content.

When the lord of Mexico and Temixtitan, and all the other lords of Culua (when this name of Culua is used it must be understood as meaning all the country and provinces of these parts subject to Temixtitan), knew that the lords of these provinces had offered themselves as vassals of Your Majesty, they sent them certain messengers to tell them that they had behaved very