The White Conquerors: A Tale of Toltec and Aztec by Kirk Munroe
CHAPTER XXIV.
MONTEZUMA IS MADE PRISONER
That night Cortes convened a council of his captains, whom he told ofthe plot to kill him. He proposed to defeat this by being first in thefield and making a prisoner of Montezuma himself. As an excuse for sohigh-handed a proceeding, he would bring up an affair, of which he hadlearned while at Cholula, but had deemed best to keep to himself untilnow. It was nothing less than an attack on the Spanish garrison at VeraCruz, by an Aztec cacique named Quapoca, who claimed to have acted bydirect orders from the king. In this engagement, though the Indianswere ultimately defeated, the Spaniards, including Juan Escalante, thecommandant, had been killed.
Armed with this excuse, Cortes, having requested and been granted anaudience with the king, set forth for the palace at an early hour onthe following morning. He was accompanied by Sandoval, Alvarado, andthree other cavaliers in full armor. One of these was Huetzin, clad inarmor provided for the occasion, and differing in no point, that theeye could detect, from a Spaniard. It was arranged that after Cortesand his companions were admitted to the king, other Spaniards, to thenumber of a score or so, should stroll into the palace, a few at atime, and remain within supporting distance in case of need. The restof the troops, with the exception of a strong patrol on the avenueleading to the palace, were drawn up, under arms, in the courtyard oftheir quarters.
Montezuma received his guests with the utmost composure, and, throughMarina's interpretation, chatted pleasantly with them for half an hour.At the end of that time Cortes, perceiving that a sufficient number ofhis men had assembled just outside the audience chamber, demanded ofthe king why he had ordered an attack to be made on Vera Cruz.
Although startled by the suddenness of the accusation, the king deniedthat he had done so.
Cortes professed himself willing to believe this, but requested thatthe cacique who had led the attacking force be sent for, that he mightbe examined.
To this Montezuma consented, and handed his signet to an officer, withthe brief command that Quapoca be brought to Tenochtitlan.
After the officer had departed the Spanish commander proposed that,in order to prove his sincerity and place himself beyond suspicion ofsuch an act of treachery against his Spanish friends, the king shouldtransfer his residence to the palace occupied by them and remain astheir guest until all questions in connection with this unfortunateaffair should be settled.
As he listened to this proposal Montezuma turned deadly pale, and thenhis face flushed with indignation. "Do you dare doubt my word? The wordof a king!" he demanded.
"Did not your majesty inform me of the death of my chief of Tlascalansbut yesterday?" asked Cortes.
"If I did, it is because he is dead! A king cannot lie!" was thepassionate answer.
"But he may be mistaken, and if so in one case, possibly in another,"replied Cortes. At the same time he beckoned to Huetzin to step forwardand unbonnet.
The young man did so, and as the king gazed on his well-rememberedfeatures it seemed for a moment as though he would fall in a fit, soterrified and horror-stricken was his expression. For a minute he couldnot command his voice, then, in a low tone, he said:
"The victory is thine, Malinche! So long as this son of Tlahuicollives, the anger of the gods will not be averted from me or my kingdom.I will go with you."
Cortes immediately issued orders for the royal litter to be brought,and as the nobles who bore it hesitated to obey the stranger, the kingassured them that it was his pleasure to visit his white friends.As the royal train, under a strong Spanish escort, passed throughthe street, its nobles walking with bowed heads and sad faces, thenews spread like wildfire that the king had been taken prisoner, andwas being carried off by force. On every side armed men seemed tospring from the ground. Ere they were half-way to their own place, theChristians were confronted by such a furious mass of humanity that, butfor the intervention of Montezuma himself, they would have been forcedto fight against desperate odds. Actuated either by superstitiouscowardice or policy, the king assured his tumultuous subjects that hewas going, of his own free will, to visit his friends, and ordered themto retire peaceably to their homes.
Thus, without a drop of bloodshed, was the powerful but superstitiousmonarch of the great Aztec nation taken prisoner by a handful ofdetermined white men, and kept under their guard for months in the veryheart of his own capital. It seems incredible that such could have beenthe case, but all historians vouch for its truth.
Montezuma was allowed spacious quarters and every semblance of royalauthority, but was never again given his liberty. Quapoca came, wastried, condemned, and executed by the Spaniards, but their greaterprisoner was not released. His subjects were granted daily audiencewith him, but they were only admitted a few at a time, and must passthe scrutiny of a strong Spanish guard always maintained in the royalantechamber.
This new order of things was hardly established before Sandoval beganmaking inquiries as to the name, rank, and nationality of the beautifulgirl with whom he had held so delightful, and, at the same time, sounsatisfactory an interview in the royal gardens. To his dismay hecould learn nothing. No one to whom he applied could tell him aughtconcerning her, and she seemed to have disappeared as absolutely asthough translated to another sphere. Even the page who had conductedhim to her was not to be found. Sandoval enlisted the services of bothMarina and Huetzin in the search, but they were equally unsuccessfulwith himself.
The young Toltec had, by this time, acquired so fair a knowledge ofSpanish that he was able, after a fashion, to converse with his friendwithout the aid of an interpreter. Taking advantage of this, Sandovalwould talk with him for hours concerning the object of his incessantthoughts. He declared his willingness to resign all the treasure he hadacquired since coming to Mexico, if, by so doing, he could gain anotherinterview with the maiden. This was no mean sum, for, in one way andanother, the Spaniards had collected some six and a half millions ofdollars in gold alone, to say nothing of an immense quantity of silver,jewels, and costly fabrics.
With all his wealth and bravery, poor Sandoval could discover no meansof accomplishing the desire of his heart, and so sank into such a stateof melancholy as to attract the attention and arouse the anxiety ofCortes himself. This acute observer, believing hard work to be the bestlightener of a heavy heart, and being in want of a trusty governor forthe important post of Vera Cruz, forthwith appointed the unhappy youngsoldier to the position, and despatched him to his new sphere of action.
By this time the entire Aztec kingdom seemed truly to have passedunder the dominion of the white conquerors, and that almost withouta struggle. Not only did Cortes levy tribute and dispense justice inthe name of the king, but he compelled Montezuma to publicly announcehimself a vassal of Spain. Although the Aztec priesthood and religionwere not yet overthrown, the Spaniards had erected a cross on thesummit of the great temple, and here their worship was conductedby the side of that of the Aztec gods. Two brigantines, or smallsailing vessels, were built and armed, for the command of the Tezcucanlake, and in no direction was the power of the Spaniards disputed.Several incipient rebellions had been so promptly reported to theConqueror, though in so mysterious a manner that he could not trace hisinformation to its source, that he was enabled to crush them beforethey came to a head. In the name of the king, who was but a passivetool in his hands, he arrested and held captive several reputed leadersof these rebellions, and among them Cacama, Prince of Tezcuco.
Some months were passed thus peacefully, and Huetzin, tired ofinactivity, as well as hopeless of discovering the fate of Tiata, whomhe mourned as dead, was about to apply for permission to return toTlascala, when one day there came a letter from Sandoval that changedthe whole current of events. It contained the intelligence that aSpanish hidalgo, named Narvaez, in command of a fleet of eighteenvessels, and an army of a thousand men, well supplied with horses,artillery, muskets, and ammunition, had landed on the coast. Thisnew-comer claimed to have authority from the Governor-General of theNew Worl
In this grave emergency the white conqueror did not hesitate a momentto consider his course of action. Taking with him two hundred troops,he set out at once for the coast, where he proposed to at least testthe strength of the new-comer before submitting to his authority. Heleft Alvarado, the "Tonatiah" of the Aztecs, behind in command of thecity; with him were also left one hundred and forty Spaniards, Huetzinwith his Tlascalans, and all the artillery.
As Cortes and his little army marched out of the city, Montezuma, inthe royal litter, accompanied him as far as the great causeway. There,on the spot where they had first met, these two parted, with every markof mutual esteem.