Spaniards cheered and called on their patron saints to aid them, the
Aztecs yelled like wild beasts, the priests screamed invocations to
their gods and cries of encouragement to the warriors, while above all
rose the rattle of the arquebusses, the roar of the cannon, and the
fearful note of the great drum of snake's skin on which a half-naked
priest beat madly. Only the multitudes below never moved, nor shouted.
They stood silent gazing upward, and I could see the sunlight flash on
the thousands of their staring eyes.

Now all this while I was standing near the stone of sacrifice with
Otomie at my side. Round me were a ring of priests, and over the stone
was fixed a square of black cloth supported upon four poles, which were
set in sockets in the pavement. In the centre of this black cloth was
sewn a golden funnel measuring six inches or so across at its mouth,
and the sunbeams passing through this funnel fell in a bright patch,
the size of an apple, upon the space of pavement that was shaded by the
cloth. As the sun moved in the heavens, so did this ring of light creep
across the shadow till at length it climbed the stone of sacrifice and
lay upon its edge.

Then at a sign from the head priest, his ministers laid hold of me and
plucked what were left of my fine clothes from me as cruel boys pluck a
living bird, till I stood naked except for the paint upon my body and a
cloth about my loins. Now I knew that my hour had come, and strange
to tell, for the first time this day courage entered into me, and I
rejoiced to think that soon I should have done with my tormentors.
Turning to Otomie I began to bid her farewell in a clear voice, when to
my amaze I saw that as I had been served so she was being served, for
her splendid robes were torn off her and she stood before me arrayed
in nothing except her beauty, her flowing hair, and a broidered cotton