'Tell me now, counsellor,
how am I to know that in fighting against them I shall not be fighting
against the gods; how even am I to learn the true wishes and purposes of
men or gods who cannot speak my tongue and whose tongue I cannot speak?'
'It is easy, O Montezuma,' I answered. 'I can speak their tongue; send
me to discover for you.'
Now as I spoke thus my heart bounded with hope, for if once I could come
among the Spaniards, perhaps I might escape the altar of sacrifice. Also
they seemed a link between me and home. They had sailed hither in ships,
and ships can retrace their path. For though at present my lot was not
all sorrow, it will be guessed that I should have been glad indeed to
find myself once more among Christian men.
Montezuma looked at me a while and answered:
'You must think me very foolish, Teule. What! shall I send you to tell
my fears and weakness to your countrymen, and to show them the joints in
my harness? Do you then suppose that I do not know you for a spy sent to
this land by these same Teules to gather knowledge of the land? Fool,
I knew it from the first, and by Huitzel! were you not vowed to Tezcat,
your heart should smoke to-morrow on the altar of Huitzel. Be warned,
and give me no more false counsels lest your end prove swifter than you
think. Learn that I have asked these questions of you to a purpose, and
by the command of the gods, as it was written on the hearts of those
sacrificed this day.
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