Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/245

Rh and day, and from time to time to decorate It with fresh branches and flowers.

From the very moment we set this altar and cross on the great temple, the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca seemed to speak to the priests and tell them they wished to leave the country—the teules had treated them with such contempt they could not stay in the same spot with that image and cross. The gods further said that the gold which used to be kept for their honor was now broken up and melted into bars, and we, with five caciques in chains, were lording it over the land. If they were to remain in Mexico, we must be killed. This was the last they would say on the matter.

In order that Cortes and all of us should know this momentous decision, Montezuma sent word that he wished to speak with him, and when our captain hastened to the monarch, he said, "How grieved I am at the command our gods have given our papas and me and all my people. For they say we must make war on you, and kill you, or drive you back to the sea. I advise you to leave this city at once, before you are attacked. Do not fail to do this. Remember your lives are at stake."

Cortes and his officers were not a little disturbed, especially by the monarch's insistence that our lives were in danger. But they hid their fears, and Cortes, thanking Montezuma for his warning, added that