CHAPTER XVIII.
FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE MEXICAN VALLEY
After four hours of fighting and slaughter, Cortes concluded that thelesson thus given the Cholulans was one that would not be speedilyforgotten. So he withdrew his forces to their own quarters, at thesame time ordering the Tlascalans back to their camp. The mountaineersbore with them quantities of plunder, mostly things of every-day usein Cholula, but so rare in the poorer city of Tlascala as to be deemedluxuries. They also carried off nearly a thousand prisoners whom theyintended to devote to slavery. Through the influence of Huetzin,who vividly remembered his own sufferings as a prisoner of war, andrecalled the charge given him by the chief of Titcala to be mercifulin the hour of victory, these were ultimately released and allowed toreturn to their homes.
The young Toltec, with the permission of Cortes and accompanied bySandoval, also visited every temple in the city, and, throwing open thedoors of their cages or dungeons, gave freedom to hundreds of wretchedprisoners who had been doomed to sacrifice. The only service requiredof these, in return for their liberty, was that they should burythe victims of the recent battle. As the dead numbered nearly threethousand, and as their bodies were exposed to the hot sun in all partsof the city, their speedy removal was a matter of prime necessity.
In spite of this sad record of fighting, burning, slaughter, andpillage, no woman or child in all Cholula had been harmed by eitherSpaniard or Tlascalan. This fact went so far toward restoringconfidence in the honor and forbearance of the white conquerors that,when Cortes issued a proclamation inviting all citizens to return totheir homes with an assurance of safety, the invitation was generallyaccepted. Thus, within a few days, the city had nearly recovered itsformer air of peaceful prosperity. Markets and workshops were reopened,the streets were filled with a busy population, and only the blackenedruins lining certain streets remained to tell of the fiery ordealthrough which Cholula had so recently passed.
During this period of peaceful occupation by the conquerors, not onlywas no human sacrifice offered to the humbled Aztec gods, but no priestdared show himself in the presence of Huetzin, the Toltec. From thehour of his terrible vengeance upon the priests of Quetzal's temple,he was known through the length and breadth of Anahuac as a bitterenemy of the Aztec gods and a relentless persecutor of their priests.He aided in erecting the cross of stone and lime on the summit of thegreat teocal, that Sandoval had promised should stand there; and, as hegazed at it in earliest morning light, or when bathed in the glory of asetting sun, he felt that the spirits of his ancestors must, indeed, beregarding his work with approval.
As the news of the punishment inflicted by the white conquerors uponthe treacherous Cholulans spread through the land, numerous embassiesbegan to pour into the Christian camp, with tenders of allegiance fromprovinces and cities, which gladly seized this opportunity for throwingoff the galling Aztec yoke. All brought the same tales of cruelty andextortion; of oppressive taxation that left them impoverished; of theiryoung men forced to serve in Montezuma's armies, and of the yearlytribute of slaves, which they were compelled to furnish from their ownfamilies.
Besides these petty, but always welcome, embassies, there came animposing one, laden with presents, from the Aztec king. It broughtassurances of that monarch's distinguished regard for the nobleSpaniards, as well as his regrets for the unfortunate affair ofCholula. He disclaimed any share in the conspiracy, and rejoiced thatso summary a punishment had been meted out to its authors. He explainedthe presence of one of his own armies in the vicinity of the city, onthe ground that it had been sent to protect the Spaniards from anytreachery on the part of their base Tlascalan allies.
Pretending to believe these fair, but false words, Cortes dismissed theembassy courteously, but without any message to their royal master.This, he said, he would shortly deliver in person, as he intended toproceed, without further delay, to Tenochtitlan.
After spending a fortnight in Cholula, and strengthening his positionon all sides, the Spanish commander issued orders for leaving thesacred city and resuming the march toward the Aztec capital. On aglorious morning of early November, therefore, the allied forces againset forth, filled with the high hopes inspired by their recent victory,and impatient to enter new fields of conquest.
For several leagues their way lay through a smiling country of broadfields, luxuriant plantations, and thrifty villages, watered bynumerous clear streams pouring down from the adjacent mountains. Duringtheir passage through this pleasant land Huetzin heard frequent rumorsfrom friendly Indians of trouble that was in store for the invaders inthe mountains that must be crossed before the Mexican valley could bereached. He faithfully reported these rumors to the commander, and, inconsequence of them, the march was conducted with every precaution thatprudence or military science could suggest. Advance and rear guards ofcavalry were always maintained, while small bodies of Tlascalan scoutswere thrown out on either side.
Although it was thought to be somewhat beneath the dignity of hisrank to do so, Huetzin generally led one of these scouting parties inperson, so anxious was he to prove his vigilance. At length he wasrewarded by the capture of a courier, who was attempting to avoid thearmy by taking a wide circuit around it. From this prisoner he gainedthe information, that of the two roads crossing the mountains beforethem, one had been rendered impassable by orders from Montezuma. Onthe other, which was so rugged as to present almost insurmountabledifficulties, an Aztec army was stationed in ambuscade for thedestruction of the invaders.
Hastening to convey this important item of news to Cortes, Huetzinfound the army halted at a place where two roads forked. One of them,as he had already learned, was filled, farther than the eye couldreach, with great bowlders and the trunks of trees. The other was open,and at the outset looked to be much the easier and better of the two.At the moment of the young Toltec's arrival, the Aztec ambassadors whostill remained with Cortes, had nearly persuaded him to take the openroad. They assured him that the other would be found impassable for hiscavalry and artillery, even if it were cleared of its obstructions.
The Aztec nobles were greatly confused when they heard Huetzin'sreport to the commander. They attempted a blunt contradiction of hisstatements; but Cortes, paying no further attention to them, warmlythanked his young ally for his timely service, and ordered that theobstructed road be cleared. To this task Huetzin set a thousand ofhis hardy mountaineers. These worked with such willing industry that,within two hours their task was accomplished, and the highway was opento the passage of the army. Thus the ambushed Aztecs were allowed towait indefinitely for the coming of their expected victims, who, in themean time, were proceeding cheerfully on their unmolested way.
The invaders now left the pleasant plateau on which they had lingeredso long, and began the ascent of the bold mountain ranges separatingit from the valley of Mexico. On their left towered the grand peak ofPopocatepetl, clouded with smoke and fire, and lifting his majestichead nearly eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, or morethan two thousand feet higher than Mont Blanc. On their right rose thevast proportions of snow-robed Iztaccihuatl, the "white woman." Betweenthe two extended a steep barrier of bare, wind-swept rock, up whichthe rough road zigzagged its tedious way. From the snow-peaks came icywinds, chilling man and beast to the bone, while they were continuallybuffeted by fierce snow-squalls or tempests of cutting sleet. Darkgorges yawned on either side, and from their profound depths camedismal moanings, as though the storm demons were already lamenting theanticipated fall of the Aztec gods. Amid these surroundings the littlearmy toiled painfully on, until darkness shrouded the dreary landscape,when, utterly exhausted, they clamored for a halt, declaring that humanendurance could hold out no longer.
Again Huetzin came to the rescue with a knowledge of the road gainedfrom his recent bitter experience as a hunted fugitive, in those samemountains. He assured them that a cluster of commodious post-houses,erected for the shelter of Montezuma's own troops and couriers, stoodbut a short distance ahead. Thus che
ered, the Spaniards struggled onto the welcome haven so unwittingly provided by their enemy, where, bythe aid of rousing fires, the fuel for which they found already cut andstored, they passed a night of comparative comfort.
Early on the succeeding day they passed the crest of the divide, and,feeling that the worst of their trials were now left behind, theyadvanced with buoyant steps down the western slope of the sierra.Suddenly a glad shout from the front woke the mountain echoes, andstartled those who came behind. The leaders had turned an angle, and,as though by magic, the promised land was outspread before them. Thesuperb valley of Mexico, unrivalled in the world for the exquisitebeauty of its scenery, lay smiling in unclouded sunshine at their feet.
In an emerald setting of verdant fields, orchards, groves, and statelyforests, blended with areas of yellow maize and blooming gardens, fivelakes of heavenly blue shone like brilliant jewels. Clustered thicklyabout them, and even resting on their dimpled bosoms, were scores ofwhite-walled cities, towns, and hamlets, all distinctly visible throughthe rarefied atmosphere. Most conspicuous of all, fairest and moststately of all, sat the Queen City of the New World. Tenochtitlan, theroyal city of their hopes and dreams, was no longer an elusive mystery,but a visible reality. Near it rose the dark mass of Chapultepec, homeof Aztec kings, crowned with the same majestic cypresses that shadow itto this day. It was a sight to repay years of suffering toil, and it isno wonder that these first white men gazed on it in spellbound silence.