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mon injuries to avenge; and come weal or come wo, be assured we will prove true and loyal friends, and stand by you to the death."

THE Totonacs and the Cempoallans remained firm in their attachment to his interests, and thereby secured to him the town of Villa Rica. Their friends at Tlascala were assiduous in their care of the sick and wounded, of whom Cortes himself was one of the greatest sufferers. He lost the use of two fingers of his left hand, and had received two wounds on the head, one of which, exasperated by fatigue and excitement, now threatened

his life. A fever ensued, which reduced him to the verge of the grave. His constitution, however, triumphed over the disease, and the quiet inactivity of convalescence enabled him to ponder carefully his plan for continuing to prosecute the conquest.

The tidings which reached him were not of a gratifying character. When he came from Mexico to overthrow Narvaez, he had brought with him a quantity of gold, which had been deposited at Tlascala, on his return to Mexico. Velasquez de Leon had added to this a considerable sum: the whole was under the guardianship of a number of invalid soldiers. A party of five horsemen and forty foot, coming from Vera Cruz, offered to escort the invalids and treasure to the capital, and set out on the road thither. The whole party was cut off, and the treasure lost. Twelve other soldiers marching in the same direction, had been massacred in the province of Tepeaca, and accounts were from time to time received of the murder of solitary travellers, who, ignorant of the altered state of affairs at the capital, had ventured to travel thitherward alone.

As soon as he was able to leave his bed, he drew a supply of ammunition and two or three field-pieces from his stores at Vera Cruz, and prepared to take the field for the purpose of punishing some of the neighbouring tribes, who had taken advantage of his clouded fortunes to revolt from his government. Many of the soldiers refused to participate in any further hostilities, demanding to be led back to Vera Cruz; but he made one of his soul-stirring speeches to them, which roused all the enthusiasm of his own first followers, and shamed into silence the discontented soldiers from the army of Nai. raez. The Tlascalans gave him a ready support; his former able enemy, the younger Xicotencatl, laying aside the animosity he had heretofore shown towards the Spaniards, and taking the field in per

son at the head of his countrymen. He could have found no better teacher in the art of war. The Tepeacans, a powerful tribe of the same stock as the Aztecs, had yielded to Cortes when the Tlascalans were subdued, and afterwards resumed their allegiance to the Mexicans. They were defeated in two bloody battles, in which the conquerors gained great booty. For the massacre of the twelve Spaniards they were dreadfully punished. The people of the places. implicated in the massacre, were branded with hot iron as slaves, and four-fifths of them distributed among the soldiers and the allies. Cortes now made Tepeaca his head-quarters, and a short but brilliant campaign followed, in which he extended his authority over all the neighbouring provinces, accustomed his men to victory, reasserted the Spanish superiority, taught his Indian allies to act in concert with his own troops, and steadily weakened the Mexican power. Success in battle was followed up by pursuit, and the capture of the enemy's camp, which was given up to plunder; a judicious course which brought about him in immense numbers the brave natives, who fought gladly under a chief always leading them to certain victory and plunder. The character Cortes had acquired for disinterestedness and equity, attached them to his person more and more strongly, as the wisdom of his judgments, when disputed rights and succession to power were referred to his arbitration, led them to yield him an ascendency over their councils greater than had ever before been exercised. Sandoval, at the head of a separate command, destroyed a great force of the enemy, in two battles, fought in the country between Vera Cruz and the camp, and restored the communication with that place, and Cortes soon found himself the head of an empire raised by himself in the heart of the land, rivalling in strength that of the Mexicans themselves.

The captain-general now sent his shipwright, Martin Lopez, to Tlascala to commence the building of thirteen brigantines, which might be taken to pieces and carried on the shoulders of the Indians, to be reconstructed and launched on Lake Tezcuco. The sails, rigging, and other furniture were to be brought from Vera Cruz, from the stored up remains of the dismantled ships. At this juncture, Duero, the secretary, who had hitherto been his fast friend, with some others, left his standard, and sailed away from Vera Cruz by his permission, some of them to meet him again as enemies at the court of Madrid. Their place was supplied by reinforcements which he little anticipated. Velasquez having heard nothing from his expedition under Narvaez, and supposing Cortes, to be by this time, a prisoner in his hands, had despatched a ship with stores, arms, and ammunition to the colony of Villa Rica. The alcalde of Vera Cruz

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permitted the crew to land, then seized them, secured their vesse informed them of their error, and induced them to enlist under Cortes. A second vessel sent by Velasquez soon afterwards shared the same fate; three vessels sent by the governor of Jamaica to prosecute discoveries and plant colonies in Central America, met with disasters, and came to Vera Cruz to restore the men, weakened by wounds and sickness, where the crews were easily induced by the magic power of Cortes's name, to abandon their present disastrous service and join his army; and finally, a merchant vessel, sent out from the Canaries to sell arms and military stores to adventurers in the New World, came direct to Vera Cruz, and was purchased by Cortes, crew, vessel, and cargo.

CORT

ORTES now founded a second Spanish colony in the interior of the country at Tepeaca, which he called Segura de la Frontera. This place became of some importance in the age of the conquest, but has since steadily declined. With joy at these great accessions to their power, was mingled deep regret on the part of the Spaniards at the loss of their kind friend, the Tlascalan cacique, Maxixca, who fell a victim to the small pox, which had been introduced into the country by a negro in Narvaez's service, and was now sweeping over the whole country, strewing its path with thousands of victims. The emperor, Cuitlahua, the successor of Montezuma, fell beneath it. The good Father Olmedo came to Maxixca on his death bed, and found a crucifix before his couch as the object of his adoration. He was baptized immediately, and the Christians had the satisfaction of believing him at least to be exempted from eternal perdition.

In the middle of December, having fixed a garrison of sixty invalid soldiers at Tepeaca, and made all his arrangements for the march to Mexico, Cortes returned to Tlascala. His advance was a perfect triumph. The trophies and the spoils of his victories were conspicuously displayed, and the natives poured out in masses to hail their return with songs, dancing, and music. Triumphal arches were every where erected along the route, the path was strewn with flowers, and the victorious general was further glorified in a reception speech by a Tlascalan orator, who styled him "The Avenger of the Nation." But what won the hearts of the natives even more than

hese successes, was the sight of Cortes and his officers all clad in deep mourning for the loss of their friend, Maxixca. The first act of the general was to settle the succession on the son of that cacique, whose right to the throne was disputed by an illegitimate brother. The young ruler was persuaded to be baptized, and Cortes afterwards knighted him.

ABOUT the same time the Mexicans, with one voice, called to the throne the prince Quauhtemotzin, rendered by the Spaniards Guatemozin, the son-in-law and nephew of Montezuma. He was but twenty-five years old, yet there was no more valiant man in Mexico, and none had so distinguished himself in the bloody conflicts of the capital. He knew b means of his spies the preparations and designs of Cortes against the capital, and he prepared to meet hima in an effectual manner. All useless persons were sent away; the powerful vassals of the neighbourhood were I called to the city in great numbers; the defences were strengthened; the troops were exercised daily in arms, and every incentive was resorted to which could inspire the masses with the same hatred of the invaders which filled the breast of the

emperer.

Guatimozin.

Cortes left Tlascala on his final march for Mexico, on the 28th of December, 1520. His force consisted of about six hundred Spaniards, with forty horses, nine cannons, and an indifferent supply of ammunition. A large body of the natives, Tlascalans, Tepeacans, and Cholulans followed him, and another army of these natives marched to the capital soon afterwards, guarding and assisting in the transportation of the brigantines. The general found many preparations made along the road for his reception; but he reached the city of Tezcuco without difficulty. To his surprise, the cacique of the city attempted negotiation for a few hours, while the population of the city, and he himself, abandoned it and fled to Mexico. On entering the city Cortes discovered their flight, and immediately took advantage of it to proclaim the cacique dethroned. Some of the Tezcucan nobles pointed out a person who favoured the Spaniards as the rightful heir to the throne, and Cortes elevated him to it. His people were by

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this means made allies of the army, and rendered good service where they could be trusted, under their general Ixtlilxochitl, the brother of the new king, and the man whom Montezuma had imbittered by his decision, when the disputed succession to the throne of Nezahualpilli was submitted to his arbitration.

THE new cacique of Tezcuco did not long survive his exaltation, and Ixtlilxochitl succeeded him. He was always afterwards the fast friend of the Spaniards, and contributed no little to their success. Making Tezcuco his head-quarters, Cortes employed himself for four months, while the preparations for launching the fleet were being made, with excursions into all the country around the lakes, sometimes acting in concert with his lieutenants, Sandoval and Alvarado, and sometimes in separate, independent expeditions. Every where the powerful genius of Guatemozin showed itself in opposition to him, and several of the most glorious battles of the conquest were fought in this preparatory campaign. The emperor displayed a devotion and patriotism that would have rendered his name immortal in other circumstances. On one occasion he opened the dikes and flooded the city of Iztapalapan when the Spaniards had stormed it, causing them to be nearly drowned in their retreat, spoiling their powder, and preventing them from carrying off any of the spoils.

Ixtlilxochitl.

At Xochimilco, "the field of flowers," one of the most wealthy and beautiful cities on the lake, Cortes had the most narrow escape from death that befell him during the war. He had gained a victory, and taken the city, and the troops were hotly pursuing the fugitives through the streets. The general himself, with a few followers, remained near the entrance to the city. A fresh body of Indians suddenly poured into the place from a neighbouring dike. Cortes, knowing no fear, threw himself into the midst of the enemy, hoping to stop their advance. But he and his little party were quickly overwhelmed in the mass of the enemy, his horse fell, he received a very severe blow on the head, and his enemies seized him, an with shouts of triumph were bearing him off. A Tlascalan saw his danger. With the fury of a tiger he sprang to the rescue, and his superhuman efforts stopped their progress until two of the general's servants came to the rescue, and enabled him to regain his feet. He was soon in the saddle again, and the victorious pursuers, hearing the tumult in their rear, came back and ended the conflict. Corte