Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/248

228 Shortly afterward the Spaniards awoke to find the peñol evacuated, and all the effects, including a serpent of pure gold, carried away. Circumstances now compelled Chirinos to take a hasty departure, leaving in command Andrés de Monjaraz, who had lately arrived with reënforcements.

Affairs had been gradually assuming a different aspect at Mexico, where the overweening confidence and attendant excesses of the usurping rulers were preparing the way for their downfall. Particularly unpleasant to their sight were the refugees m the San Francisco sanctuary, whose mere presence there seemed a defiance of their power, against which they were known to be plotting. Repeated orders were issued for them to leave the temple and return to their homes, but this demand implied in itself some nefarious project, and after the disregard shown by the authorities for solemn oaths, none could trust himself in their hands. The obsequious council now assisted in condemning the refugees as traitors, with confiscation of property. In his bitterness Salazar even went so far as to forcibly take them from the sanctuary. Friar Valencia, the custodian, protested against this desecration, and no heed being given to his words, he laid the whole city under excommunication, and departed from it with his Franciscans, carrying away also the sacred vessels and other paraphernalia. Imagine the excitement created by this withdrawal of the divine favor! The church was no longer so omnipotent as in the days of Hildebrand, who compelled the mighty Henry to creep for mercy at his feet, yet among the Latin races it still appeared as an arbiter invested with superhuman attributes, by whose decree