And so the months went on, till at length spies came in with the tidings
that the Spaniards were advancing in numbers, and with them countless
hosts of allies.
Now I would have sent Otomie to seek safety among her own people, but
she laughed me to scorn, and said:
'Where you are, there I will be, husband. What, shall it be suffered
that you face death, perhaps to find him, when I am not at your side to
die with you? If that is the fashion of white women, I leave it to them,
beloved, and here with you I stay.'
CHAPTER XXVII
THE FALL OF TENOCTITLAN
Now shortly after Christmas, having marched from the coast with a great
array of Spaniards, for many had joined his banner from over sea, and
tens of thousands of native allies, Cortes took up his head quarters at
Tezcuco in the valley of Mexico. This town is situated near the borders
of the lake, at a distance of several leagues from Tenoctitlan, and
being on the edge of the territory of the Tlascalans his allies, it was
most suitable to Cortes as a base of action. And then began one of the
most terrible wars that the world has seen. For eight months it raged,
and when it ceased at length, Tenoctitlan, and with it many other
beautiful and populous towns, were blackened ruins, the most of the
Aztecs were dead by sword and famine, and their nation was crushed for
ever.
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