and I, and coming to the water's edge, we found ten large canoes, each
laden with something that was hidden by cotton cloths. Into these canoes
we entered secretly, thinking that none saw us, three to a canoe, for
there were thirty of us in all, and led by Guatemoc, we paddled for two
hours or more across the Lake Tezcuco, till we reached the further shore
at a spot where this prince had a fair estate. Here we landed, and the
cloths were withdrawn from the cargoes of the canoes, which were great
jars and sacks of gold and jewels, besides many other precious objects,
among them a likeness of the head of Montezuma, fashioned in solid gold,
which was so heavy that it was as much as Guatemoc and I could do to
lift it between us. As for the jars, of which, if my memory serves me,
there were seventeen, six men must carry each of them by the help of
paddles lashed on either side, and then the task was not light. All this
priceless stuff we bore in several journeys to the crest of a rise some
six hundred paces distant from the water, setting it down by the mouth
of a shaft behind the shelter of a mound of earth. When everything was
brought up from the boats, Guatemoc touched me and another man, a great
Aztec noble, born of a Tlascalan mother, on the shoulder, asking us if
we were willing to descend with him into the hole, and there to dispose
of the treasure.

'Gladly,' I answered, for I was curious to see the place, but the noble
hesitated awhile, though in the end he came with us, to his ill-fortune.

Then Guatemoc took torches in his hand, and was lowered into the shaft
by a rope. Next came my turn, and down I went, hanging to the cord like
a spider to its thread, and the hole was very deep. At length I found
myself standing by the side of Guatemoc at the foot of the shaft, round
which, as I saw by the light of the torch he carried, an edging of dried
bricks was built up to the height of a man above our heads. Resting on