Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/287

Rh and to tell how he came to die by wounds his own people had given, and how grieved we Spaniards were. They were to tell, moreover, that they should bury him for the great king he was, and should in his royal seat set his cousin who was staying with us, or one of his sons, and then make treaty of peace with us so that we might quit Mexico. If they did not do this, we, who had held ourselves from destroying the city in our respect and love for Montezuma, would make a war that would burn their houses and do no end of damage.

Upon this we gave the body of Montezuma to six caciques and the papas whom we held prisoners, and they bore it on their shoulders and delivered it to the chieftains, telling how they had seen the great monarch die. When the Mexicans saw him dead they broke into floods of tears and shrieked and moaned bitterly. But they never let up the fierce assault they made on us, rather they came at us with renewed fury, shouting, "We will make you pay for the death of our monarch and your insults to our gods! You beg peace? Come out here and we will show you how we will make it." They said much else that I can not remember and so do not report, but it was to the effect that they would elect a