Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/535

Rh younger men the outer. When all is ready the music strikes up lightly to a well known tune, and the dancers move off, chanting a song bearing on the event of the day, and on gods and kings. Forewarned as the Spaniards are, they see treason in every act and word, and many who understand somewhat the Aztec language declare that the songs bear distinct allusions to the intended uprising.

As the dance progresses a few of the soldiers, together with a number of Tlascaltecs, take possession of the different entrances, while the rest distribute themselves in suitable positions and watch for the signal. Instructed by his native allies, Alvarado waits the time when the Indians shall install the war-god image in the chapel. And now the sanguinary moment has come. Falling on the assembly with pike and sword, some strike the idol and some its worshippers. They hew down the priests and drive the cruel steel through the bodies of the nobles. Few of the Indians possess any weapons with which to defend themselves from the sharp Toledo blades. Taken thus by surprise, panic-stricken, they tread one upon another, and then fall helpless under the merciless thrusts of the enemy. Their first impulse has been to rush for the gates, but lines of bristling pikes oblige them to press back against the crowd, thereby increasing the confusion. Some attempt to climb over the high walls, some to hide in the temple buildings, even burrowing beneath the heaps of the slain. Before an hour has passed there is nothing left in sight deemed worthy Spanish swords, so suddenly has this brilliant assembly been transformed into