Otomie, Montezuma's daughter.



CHAPTER XXIV

THE NIGHT OF FEAR


Long before I awoke that day the commands of the council had been
carried out, and the bridges in the great causeways were broken down
wherever dykes crossed the raised roads that ran through the waters of
the lake. That afternoon also I went dressed as an Indian warrior with
Guatemoc and the other generals, to a parley which was held with Cortes,
who took his stand on the same tower of the palace that Montezuma had
stood on when the arrow of Guatemoc struck him down. There is little to
be said of this parley, and I remember it chiefly because it was then
for the first time since I had left the Tobascans that I saw Marina
close, and heard her sweet and gentle voice. For now as ever she was by
the side of Cortes, translating his proposals of peace to the Aztecs.
Among those proposals was one which showed me that de Garcia had not
been idle. It asked that the false white man who had been rescued from
the altars of the gods upon the teocalli should be given in exchange for
certain Aztec prisoners, in order that he might be hung according to
his merits as a spy and deserter, a traitor to the emperor of Spain. I
wondered as I heard, if Marina knew when she spoke the words, that 'the
false white man' was none other than the friend of her Tobascan days.

'You see that you are fortunate in having found place among us Aztecs,
Teule,' said Guatemoc with a laugh, 'for your own people would greet you