The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol 1 Part 25

Yet he sent word that our visit would be agreeable to him.

After Cortes had entered his apartment, and the usual compliments had been pa.s.sed, he thus addressed Motecusuma: "I am greatly astonished that a prince of such power, who styles himself our friend, should have commanded his troops, which lie on the coast near Tuzapan, to take up arms against my Spanish troops, and presume to demand a certain number of men and women for the sacrifices from those townships which have put themselves under the protection of our emperor. But this is not all; they have plundered those places, and even killed one of my brothers, and a horse."

Cortes very prudently omitted to mention the death of Escalante and the six others; for Motecusuma at that time knew as little of that as his generals who had commanded on the occasion.

"How very differently we acted on our side!" continued Cortes. "I had put implicit reliance in your friendship, and desired my officers in every way to comply with your wishes. You, on the contrary, have commanded your officers the very opposite. You once likewise sent a large body of troops to Cholulla to destroy us all there. At that time, from the friendship I bore you, I would not notice to you that I was aware of that. At the present moment your generals have the audacity to plot in secret to put us all to death. However, notwithstanding all this treachery, I will refrain from making war upon you, which would only end in the total destruction of this city; but in order that peace may be maintained between us, you must make a small sacrifice, which is, to follow us quietly into our quarters, and take up your abode there. There you will receive the same attention, and be treated with the same respect as if you were in your own palace. But if you make any alarm now, or call out to your attendants, you are a dead man; and it is for this reason only that I have this time brought these officers with me."

Motecusuma was seized with such sudden terror at these words, that he remained speechless for some time. At length, however, he took courage, and declared he had never given any one orders to take up arms against us. He would that instant send for his generals, and learn from them the truth of the whole matter, and give exemplary punishment. For this purpose, he loosened the seal and mark of Huitzilopochtli, which he always wore around his wrist. This he only did when he issued orders of the first importance, and that those who had the seal might be immediately obeyed. He was quite astonished, he said, we should presume to take him prisoner, and lead him away out of his palace against his wishes. No one had a right to demand that of him, he added; and altogether he felt no inclination to comply with our request.

Cortes, in answer to this, gave him very good reasons for our having come to this determination; but Motecusuma continually brought in stronger reasons why he should not comply; and was resolved not to leave his palace.

As this dispute had now lasted above half an hour, our officers began to lose all patience, and said to Cortes with great warmth, "What is the use of throwing away so many words? He must either quietly follow us, or we will cut him down at once. Be so good as to tell him this; for on this depends the safety of our lives. We must show determination, or we are inevitably lost."

These words were uttered by Juan Velasquez in a loud and harsh tone of voice. When, therefore, Motecusuma heard this, and perceived the dark looks of the officers, he asked Marina what the man had said who spoke so loud.

Marina, who was uncommonly shrewd, and well knew how to help us out with a good answer, said, "Great monarch, if I may be allowed to give you advice, make no further difficulties, but immediately follow them to their quarters. I am confident they will pay you every respect, and treat you as becomes a powerful monarch. But if you continue to refuse, they will cut you down on the spot."

Motecusuma then turned to Cortes, and said: "Malinche, since then you repose no trust in me, take my son and my two legitimate daughters as hostages; only do not disgrace me, by demanding my person. What will the grandees of my empire say, if they see me taken prisoner?"

Cortes, however, said that his own person would be the only guarantee of our safety, and that there was no other means of quieting our fears. At last Motecusuma, after a good deal of altercation, made up his mind to go quietly with us.

As soon as he had declared this his intention, our officers showed him every possible civility, and hoped that he would excuse the grief they had occasioned him, and desired him to acquaint his generals and his body-guard that he had chosen, of his own free will, to take up his abode in our quarters; and also upon the advice of Huitzilopochtli and his papas, who considered it necessary for his health, and for the safety of his life.

His rich and splendid sedan was then brought in, which he commonly used when he left his palace with his whole suite, and he followed us to our quarters, where we took every precaution to secure his person. Every one of us strove hardest to make him happy, and procured him every entertainment we could think of, to make his confinement as pleasant as we could.

Shortly afterwards all the Mexican grandees, with his nephew, called upon him, to inquire the reason of his imprisonment, and ask him if they should commence hostilities against us? But Motecusuma told them he wished to do himself the pleasure of pa.s.sing a few days with us, and that this change of abode was of his own free choice. He would make his wishes known to them as soon as he found reason to complain. They might allay their fears, and keep the metropolis quiet, and not trouble themselves any further about him. The determination he had thus taken was fully consented to by Huitzilopochtli, as many priests, who had purposely consulted him, had admitted.

These are the true circ.u.mstances relative to the imprisonment of Motecusuma. He was always surrounded by the whole of his household, and had all his wives with him, and continued to bathe himself daily, as he had been accustomed to, in his own palace. He was likewise always attended by twenty of his generals and counsellors, nor did he show the least signs of grief on account of his confinement. Disputes from the most distant parts were laid before him, as usual, for his decision; the tribute was collected, and he continued to attend to the most important affairs of state as before. His subjects paid the same veneration to his person, and the most distinguished princes who waited on him, or came upon business, always took off their fine garments, to put on a meaner dress of nequen cloth, and came so, barefoot, into his presence. Neither did they enter at the princ.i.p.al gate, but sought for some side door, and approached with eyes downcast, and made three prostrations, and p.r.o.nounced the words Lord, my lord, great lord! They then acquainted him with their business, by means of pictures drawn on nequen cloth; and made use of thin sticks, with which they pointed to the different objects, to explain what they wanted, or the nature of the lawsuit they came about.

Motecusuma had constantly two old distinguished caziques at his side, who, as judges, gave their opinion in every case, after due deliberation; and the monarch then, in few words, gave his decision. The parties then, without uttering a syllable, or turning their backs to him, left the apartment with three deep bows; and on arriving outside, they again put on their fine garments, and took a stroll in the metropolis.

After some time had elapsed, the generals who had fought against Escalante were brought in prisoners to the monarch. What he told them on this occasion I do not know; but he sent them to Cortes to p.r.o.nounce judgment on them himself. These unfortunate men confessed they had merely acted up to the commands of their monarch, which was, to levy the tribute by force of arms; and if the teules should protect the rebels, to attack them also, and put them to the sword.

Cortes acquainted Motecusuma with what these men had said, but declared that the monarch had sufficiently exculpated himself from any guilt in the affair. According to the laws of our emperor, that man suffered death who had killed another, whether he deserved killing or not; however, his love for Motecusuma was so great, that he would rather take the responsibility of this matter upon himself than allow it to rest with him; but as he still seemed anxious about it, our general made no further ceremony with these Mexicans, but sentenced them to death, and they were burnt alive in front of Motecusuma's palace.[69*]

And that no impediment might be thrown in the way while these sentences were being put into execution, Cortes ordered chains to be put on Motecusuma. At first he certainly did not approve of this at all, but, in the end, quietly submitted, and grew even the more tractable afterwards. When the executions had taken place, Cortes approached him, with five of our officers, and himself took off his chains again, with the a.s.surance that he loved him more than a brother. He likewise told him, however great a monarch he might be at present, that additional countries should be annexed to his empire, and he was at liberty to visit any of his other palaces whenever he felt inclined.

At these words Motecusuma became affected, and big tears rolled down his cheeks; and though he felt that all was mere empty sound he had heard, he nevertheless thanked Cortes for his kindness, adding, that at present he felt no inclination to go anywhere.

His nephews, relations, and grandees daily stormed him with pet.i.tions to allow them to make war upon us, and release him from confinement. And, indeed, it required all his persuasion to prevent them from rising up in arms immediately. If he were once, said they, outside of our quarters, they would take forcible possession of his person. The whole of the inhabitants in his metropolis would rise up in arms, and if then he would not join them, they would care little about him, and elect a new king. Motecusuma, however, succeeded in silencing them by the a.s.surance that Huitzilopochtli had himself advised him to bear with his confinement.

To account for Motecusuma thus quietly submitting to his confinement, I must here remark that Cortes ordered Aguilar to acquaint him secretly that if even our general himself gave his consent to his liberation, it would be of no avail, as all our officers and soldiers would oppose it.

Cortes feigned to be unconscious of all this, and embraced the monarch under the a.s.surances of sincere friendship. He likewise gave him his page Orteguilla, who had already gained some knowledge of the Mexican language, the monarch having expressed a wish to have a Spanish attendant. This young man was of the greatest utility both to Motecusuma and ourselves, the monarch learning many things from him relating to Spain, and we again a good deal of the discourses which pa.s.sed between the former and his generals: he was in every way attentive to the monarch, who became exceedingly fond of him. On the whole, Motecusuma appeared perfectly content with the civilities we showed him, and he continually felt greater delight in our company; for whenever any one of us pa.s.sed by him, he immediately entered into discourse with us: we were quite at our ease with him, even when Cortes was present, and took off our helmets in his presence, which, as well as our weapons, we never laid aside; and the monarch always treated us with great respect.

The severe example which Cortes had made of the Mexican generals had had its full effect. The news thereof ran like wildfire through the whole of New Spain; the tribes along the coast, by whom our troops of Vera Cruz had been defeated, were seized with terror, and again offered their services to the garrison there.

I must now beg the kind reader to pause a moment upon the heroic deeds we performed, and consider their magnitude! First of all, we destroy all our vessels, and thereby cut off all hopes of escaping from this country. We then venture to march into this strong city, though we were warned against it on all sides, and a.s.sured we should merely be allowed a peaceable entrance to be the more easily destroyed. We then have the audacity to imprison the monarch of this vast empire, the powerful Motecusuma, in his own metropolis, in his very palace, amidst his numerous troops. At last, we even fearlessly burn some of his generals to death in front of his own palace, and throw the monarch himself in chains while this was being executed! Even now, in my old age, the heroic deeds we then accomplished come vividly to my memory. I imagine I see all pa.s.sing before me now, but must also acknowledge that, although we had our hands full, we were aided by Divine Providence. When again on earth will be found such a handful of soldiers, in all scarcely 550, who would dare to penetrate, at a distance of above 6000 miles from their native country, into the heart of such a strong city, larger than Venice, take its very monarch prisoner, and execute his generals in his very presence? These things, indeed, ought to be deeply pondered on, and not mentioned so briefly as I here have done! But it is time I should continue my history.

[69*] Bernal Diaz only mentions three of these generals by name: Quetzalpopoca, Coatl, and Quiahuitle, which we thought better to insert here. When Quetzalpopoca, says Torquemada, was brought into the presence of the Spaniards, and asked whether he was a va.s.sal of Motecusuma, he replied: "Is it possible in this world to be the va.s.sal of any other monarch." (p. 253.)

CHAPTER XCVI.

_How our general appoints Alonso Grado lieutenant of Vera Cruz, and Sandoval alguacil-major of the same place._

After the execution of the Mexican generals, and Motecusuma had become pacified again, Cortes despatched one of our officers, named Alonso de Grado, a very active, handsome, and sensible man, to Vera Cruz, with the appointment of lieutenant, who, besides being an excellent musician, was a capital penman.

This Grado was one of those who had always opposed our march to Mexico, and particularly on the occasion when the intrigues were set on foot by the discontented during our stay in Tlascalla: he then insisted on our return to Vera Cruz, and, upon the whole, spoke in severe terms against our general. He was very expert in various matters, and was successful in his undertakings, and hence again obtained the command of Vera Cruz, though he was not a very good soldier. Cortes, well acquainted with the man's character, that he was not one of the most courageous, said to him, in giving him the appointment, rather jokingly, "Your desire of going to Vera Cruz, Alonso de Grado, is about to be fulfilled. There you must continue the building of the fortress with a.s.siduity; but have nothing to do with any warlike movements: it might end equally disastrous for you as it did for Juan de Escalante!"

While Cortes was thus addressing him, he winked his eye to those who were present, as much as to say if he were required on the field of battle, we should have to drag him there by the hair of his head.

When Grado's appointment and instructions were about to be drawn up, he likewise begged Cortes to confer on him the appointment of alguacil-major, which Escalante had enjoyed with that of lieutenant. Our commander, however, told him it had already been conferred upon Sandoval, but, in a short time, he would give him some further appointment. He particularly desired him to watch over the interests of the inhabitants of Vera Cruz as a father, and not allow any harsh measures to be practised against the Indian population. Lastly, he desired him to order the smith at Vera Cruz to make two heavy iron chains, and to forward them, with the anchors we had taken out of our vessels, immediately to Mexico.

Alonso de Grado's conduct, however, very little corresponded with the instructions he had received. His behaviour towards the Spanish garrison at Vera Cruz was haughty to a degree. He required the men to wait upon him, as if he had been a grandee, and demanded golden trinkets and beautiful females from the thirty surrounding tribes which were friendly with us. He no way troubled himself about completing the fortress, and spent all his time in feasting and gambling. He went even further than this, and gave way to his former ill-will towards Cortes, by seeking to gain his friends and others over to the interest of Diego Velasquez, and proposed that if the latter himself, or any one sent by him, should appear off the coast, to make common cause with him, and deliver up possession of the country to him.

Cortes was duly apprized of all this, and sadly repented in the choice of this man, whose character and artful disposition, however, he had known beforehand.

As Cortes was still afraid that Diego Velasquez might somehow or other obtain information of the purport of our mission to the emperor, and not merely frustrate our designs, but also send out an armament against us, he considered it necessary to send a trustworthy man to Vera Cruz. His choice fell upon Sandoval, who became alguacil-major of the town after the death of Escalante. Sandoval was accompanied by Ircio, the same who, Gomara affirms, founded a settlement in Panuco. This Ircio had been groom to the earl of Urena, and likewise to Don Pedro Giron, and knew well how to entertain Sandoval with the various adventures of his life: hereby he succeeded in gaining the intimate friendship of this excellent man, who was innocence itself, and, by degrees, he obtained a captaincy.

He, however, repaid him with ingrat.i.tude, and calumniated him so grossly that he might have been punished according to law, but Sandoval contented himself by giving him a severe reprimand.

I will, however, leave this subject, and relate that Sandoval, immediately upon his arrival at Vera Cruz, fulfilled Cortes' orders, took Grado prisoner, and sent him under a strong escort of Indian auxiliaries to Mexico. Sandoval very soon gained the good wishes of the whole garrison, for he began his work by providing food for the sick, and treating the inhabitants with every possible kindness, and was most particular in promoting the interests of the surrounding townships which were friendly with us. In the same way he set diligently about the completion of the fortress, and every way proved himself an active and vigilant commander, who afterwards, as will be seen, rendered vast services to Cortes and all of us.

I must now return to Grado, who soon arrived at Mexico in custody of our Indian auxiliaries. His request to obtain a hearing from Cortes was not only refused, but he was thrown into a wooden cage which had just been constructed. I can still well remember that the wood of this cage smelt strongly of garlic and onions. However, our prisoner was obliged to pa.s.s two whole days in it; yet, like a clever fellow, who is never at a loss, he found means to soften Cortes' resentment by making him solemn promises of future obedience, and not only obtained his liberty again, but, from that moment, as I witnessed myself, became very intimate with our general, who, however, never again intrusted him with any military command, but employed him in matters which suited his talents.

Subsequently he appointed him auditor of the army accounts, which Avila had previously filled, and whom Cortes had despatched, as his attorney, to St. Domingo, as will subsequently be seen.

Before I close this chapter, I have to observe that Cortes desired Sandoval, on his arrival at Vera Cruz, to send him the two smiths of that town, with all their apparatus, a quant.i.ty of iron, besides the two heavy iron chains which were already finished; and likewise a supply of sails, some rigging, pitch, and a compa.s.s; all of which Cortes required for the brigantines which he intended building to navigate the lake of Mexico.

CHAPTER XCVII.

_How we entertained and amused Motecusuma during his confinement, and granted him permission to visit his temple._

Our general was a man who thought of everything, and strove as much as possible to enliven the monarch in his confinement, that he might not feel the weight of his misfortune too deeply. Cortes, therefore, every morning after we had said prayers, visited the monarch with four of our princ.i.p.al officers, to inquire after his health and after his wants, and otherwise to amuse him in every way; in which they succeeded so well that Motecusuma one day himself declared his confinement was not irksome to him, as our G.o.ds had given us the power to take him prisoner, and Huitzilopochtli had allowed it.

Sometimes also Motecusuma played at a certain game with Cortes, which the Mexicans call the game of _totoloc_: it is played with small round glossy b.a.l.l.s, which here were made of gold, and are pitched at a certain mark, also of the same metal: five throws finished the game, and the stakes were for valuable gold trinkets and jewels. I still remember once when Motecusuma and Cortes were playing at this game, Alvarado scoring for Cortes, and a distinguished cazique (his nephew) for the monarch, that Alvarado continually scored one too many for Cortes. This was observed by Motecusuma, who said, with a pleasing smile, that he was not exactly pleased when _Tonatio_ (so they termed Alvarado) marked the game for Cortes, for he was guilty of _Ixoxol_ in scoring, which means that he scored falsely, by continually marking one more than he ought.

Cortes, and we others who happened to be on duty at the time in the apartment, could not resist laughing at the observation of the monarch.

And why, it will be asked, did we find that expression so amusing?

Because Alvarado, notwithstanding the handsome and refined man he was, could not resist the temptation of scoring falsely, and had been discovered. However, all the gain was divided among those present; for what Cortes won he presented to the monarch's nephew and his servants; Motecusuma dividing his gains among those who happened to be on duty at the time.[70] And not a day pa.s.sed that he did not present Velasquez de Leon, who was very kind to him, and was captain of the guard, and those who were on duty, with valuable gold trinkets and manufactured stuffs.

One night a sailor, named Truxillo, stood sentinel in the monarch's apartment. This fellow was very stout and strongly-built; he happened to forget himself, for a moment, in a way which, out of respect for the reader, I will not describe more minutely here. Motecusuma, who was a monarch of refined manners, happened to hear it at the moment, and considered himself grossly insulted. He inquired of his page Orteguilla who the low-bred fellow was? Orteguilla replied that the man was a sailor, and that such persons were little acquainted with good manners.

It was upon this occasion also that Orteguilla explained to him the rank of every individual soldier, who were cavaliers and who were not, and many other things the monarch wished to know. Motecusuma, however, had not forgotten the insult which the sailor had offered to his person, for daylight had scarcely broken forth when he sent for him, and reproached him for his disrespectful behaviour, and advised him to mend his manners for the future; but sweetened down this lecture by presenting him with some gold trinkets, worth about five pesos. This kind treatment, however, had little effect on the rough sailor, who repeated his filthy conduct the following night, in the hopes of getting a second present when morning came. Motecusuma, however, disdained speaking to him any more, but complained to the captain of the guard, and desired that the fellow might be severely reprimanded and never allowed again to stand sentinel there.