Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/530

410 sacrifice, regardless of the promises given, while some bloody hearts which they saw testified to the work already done by the knife. With the victims Alvarado seized their attendants and certain of the emperor's courtiers, from some of whom he tortured a confession. In this manner he learned what he already partially knew, namely, that many arms were prepared; that during the Incensing of Huitzilopochtli, as the festival was called, the Christian emblems would be cast out of the temple, and that the uprising was to take place at the conclusion of the feast.

A seeming confirmation of the proposed sacrilege came from Montezuma himself, who sent to request the removal of the Christian emblems from the summit of the great temple, pleading as high-priest that the presence of strange images must prove irritating to the worshippers of other gods. Alvarado indignantly refused; he would rather fight. The Mexicans did not choose to see their festival broken up before the appointed time, and so the point was waived. It was then arranged that the Spaniards should attend the ceremonies, so as to be assured that no indignities would be offered their images.