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254 the invader was delivered him. It would be dangerous indeed to admit these beings; but how prevent it? Thus revolving the matter, Montezuma had recourse once more to timid entreaties. His envoy returned to Cholula within a week, accompanied by the former chief of the commission, and brought ten plates of gold, fifteen hundred robes, and a quantity of fowl and delicacies, together with the assurance that he not only had had no share in the plot, but desired to see the Cholultecs further chastised for their treachery. The Mexican troops near Cholula belonged to the garrisons of Acatzingo and Itzucan provinces, and had marched to the aid of that city without his knowledge, prompted wholly by neighborly friendship. He begged the Spanish leader not to proceed to Mexico, where want would stare him in the face, but to present his demands by messengers, so that they might be complied with. Cortés replied that he must obey the orders of his king, which were to deliver to the emperor in person the friendly communications with which he had been intrusted. With this object he had crossed vast oceans and fought his way through hosts of enemies. The privations and dangers depicted could not deter him, for naught availed against his forces, in field or in town, by day or by night.

Finding objections futile, Montezuma again consulted the idols. Their ruffled spirit had evidently been soothed by this time, for now came the oracle to invite the strangers to Mexico. Once there, it was added, retreat should be cut off, and their lives offered on the altar. This utterance was favored by the counsellors on the ground that if the Spaniards were