Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/479

Rh roamed defiantly. Under conduct of Mendoza's guard, which had often witnessed his honorable entrance, he was marched out of the viceregal palace and lodged in the common prison. Fortune had bestowed upon him her last smile.

His appointed judge lost no time in beginning proceedings, and that there might be no unnecessary protraction of the trial he listened only to the most serious charges. The accusations were the gravest that could be made. The murder of Caltzontzin, the devastations of towns, and the enslavement of natives alike in time of war and peace, were sufficient to condemn a far more popular man. The districts of Pánuco and Nueva Galicia were visited by Torre, and the testimony of witnesses taken relative to Guzman's acts in these regions. Thus time passed by, making the trial long, although it had been so promptly begun. Nor was his life in prison cheered by much