Then he and his band placed themselves about me,
my wives the goddesses going before and after, and led me down the hall
and on to the gateways of the palace, which were thrown wide for us to
pass. Looking round me with a stony wonder, for in this my last hour
nothing seemed to escape my notice, I saw that a strange play was being
played about us. Some hundreds of paces away the attack on the palace
of Axa, where the Spaniards were entrenched, raged with fury. Bands of
warriors were attempting to scale the walls and being driven back by the
deadly fire of the Spaniards and the pikes and clubs of their Tlascalan
allies, while from the roofs of such of the neighbouring houses as
remained unburned, and more especially from the platform of the great
teocalli, on which I must presently give up the ghost, arrows, javelins,
and stones were poured by thousands into the courtyards and outer works
of the Spanish quarters.
Five hundred yards away or so, raged this struggle to the death, but
about me, around the gates of Montezuma's palace on the hither side
of the square, was a different scene. Here were gathered a vast crowd,
among them many women and children, waiting to see me die. They came
with flowers in their hands, with the sound of music and joyous cries,
and when they saw me they set up such a shout of welcome that it almost
drowned the thunder of the guns and the angry roar of battle.
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