And hour by hour through the darkness, a voice called out
threats and warnings to the Spaniards, saying, 'Huitzel is hungry for
your blood, ye Teules, ye shall surely follow where ye have seen your
fellows go: the cages are ready, the knives are sharp, and the irons
are hot for the torture. Prepare, ye Teules, for though ye slay many, ye
cannot escape.'
Thus the struggle went on day after day, till thousands of the Aztecs
were dead, and the Spaniards were well nigh worn out with hunger,
war, and wounds, for they could not rest a single hour. At length one
morning, when the assault was at its hottest, Montezuma himself appeared
upon the central tower of the palace, clad in splendid robes and wearing
the diadem. Before him stood heralds bearing golden wands, and about
him were the nobles who attended him in his captivity, and a guard of
Spaniards. He stretched out his hand, and suddenly the fighting was
stayed and a silence fell upon the place, even the wounded ceased from
their groaning. Then he addressed the multitude. What he said I was too
far off to hear, though I learned its purport afterwards. He prayed his
people to cease from war, for the Spaniards were his friends and guests
and would presently leave the city of Tenoctitlan. When these cowardly
words had passed his lips, a fury took his subjects, who for long years
had worshipped him as a god, and a shriek rent the air that seemed to
say two words only:
'Woman! Traitor!'
Then I saw an arrow rush upwards and strike the emperor, and after the
arrow a shower of stones, so that he fell down there upon the tower
roof.
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