Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/41

Rh the Emperor Charles V., in order to secure a confirmation of his proceedings. The most daring act of this period was the destruction of the squadron which had wafted him to Mexico. It was a deed of wise policy, which deliberately cut off all hope of retreat,—pacified, in some degree, the querulous conspirators who lurked in his camp,—and placed before all who were embarked in the enterprise the alternative of conquest or destruction. But one vessel remained. Nine out of the ten were dismantled and sunk. When his men murmured for a moment, and imagined themselves betrayed, he addressed them in that language of bland diplomacy which he was so well skilled to use whenever the occasion required. "As for me," said he, "I will remain here whilst there is one to bear me company! Let the cravens shrink from danger and go home in the single vessel that remains. Let them hasten to Cuba, and relate how they deserted their commander and comrades; and there let them wait in patience till we return laden with the spoils of Mexico!"

This was an appeal that rekindled the combined enthusiasm and avarice of the despondent murmurers; and the reply was a universal shout: to

On the 16th of August, 1519, Cortéz set out with his small army of about four hundred men, now swelled by the addition of thirteen hundred Indian warriors and a thousand porters, and accompanied by forty of the chief Totonacs as hostages and advisers. From the burning climate of the coast the army gradually ascended to the cooler regions of the tierra templada, and tierra fria, encountering all degrees of temperature on the route. After a journey of three days, the forces arrived at a town on one of the table lands of the interior, whose chief magistrate confirmed the stories of the power of Montezuma. Here Cortéz tarried three days for repose, and then proceeded towards the Republic of Tlascala, which lay directly in his path, and with whose inhabitants he hoped to form an alliance founded on the elements of discontent which he knew existed among these inveterate foes of the central Aztec power. But he was mistaken in his calculations. The Tlascalans were not so easily won as his allies, the Totonacs, who, dwelling in a warmer climate, had not the hardier virtues of these mountaineers. The Tlascalans entertained no favorable feeling towards Montezuma, but they nourished quite as little cordiality for men whose characters they did not know, and whose purposes they had cause to dread. A deadly hostility to the Spaniards was consequently