vouched for him, and I offer mine in earnest of my faith.'

'This Teule has good friends,' said Cuitlahua; 'you honour him overmuch.
But so be it.'

Then Guatemoc came forward, and when the priest would have cut him with
the knife, he laughed and said, pointing to the bullet wound upon his
neck:

'No need for that, priest. Blood runs here that was shed by the Teules.
None can be fitter for this purpose.'

So the priest drew away the bandage and suffered the blood of Guatemoc
to drop into a second smaller bowl. Then he came to me and dipping his
finger into the blood, he drew the sign of a cross upon my forehead as a
Christian priest draws it upon the forehead of an infant, and said:

'In the presence and the name of god our lord, who is everywhere and
sees all things, I sign you with this blood and make you of this blood.
In the presence and the name of god our lord, who is everywhere and sees
all things, I pour forth your blood upon the earth!' (here he poured
as he spoke). 'As this blood of yours sinks into the earth, so may the
memory of your past life sink and be forgotten, for you are born again
of the people of Anahuac. In the presence and the name of god our lord,
who is everywhere and sees all things, I mingle these bloods' (here
he poured from one bowl into the other), 'and with them I touch your
tongue' (here dipping his finger into the bowl he touched the tip of my
tongue with it) 'and bid you swear thus:

'"May every evil to which the flesh of man is subject enter into my